Any edition of this book is fine, but the 2nd edition has an excellent introduction by the Chicana scholar Sonia Saldivar-Hull that explains some of the strategies Gloria Anzaldua uses in this book, especially regarding the langauage (code-switching).
The third edition has a number of tributes to Anzaldua who died in 2004.
Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestizaa is a groundbreaking work that combines queer theory, socioogy, literature, cultural studies, and history with an autobiographical narrative about Anzaldua's life.
I didn't like it the first time I read it, but it has grown on me. Unfortunately, this is often the only book that grad students in English, American Studies, Ethnic Studies, Queer Studies are exposed to from a Chicana/o perspective. Anzaldaua's work should still be read, but it is not the only work of this type worth reading.
Czar
Monday, May 31, 2010
Shamanism and Science
The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge is a brilliant and thought-provoking book that argues there for the connection between the drug-induced trances of an Amazonian tribe and their creation myths are somehow related to modern genetics.
Jeremy Narby holds a Stanford PhD in Anthropology who did his dissertation on these Amazonian peoples, though this is not his dissertation. Instead it is one of the most interesting and intellectually challenging books I have ever read! It brings together so many of the issues that interest me: Religion, Science, Evolution, Physics, Cosmology, the Supernatural, and Indigenous knowledge. I initially thought of the writings of Carlos Castaneda, but there is a scientific and intellectual rigor in Narby's book that I can not find in Castaneda's writings.
I find that Narby makes a compelling case for the unity or at least the synthesis of 20th century biology, DNA, and the indigenous knowledge and visions of these South American shamans.
Reading Narby's experience of taking hallucinogens was eerie, but I could relate to some of his sensations. Your mind is never the same after these types of experiences. Though your more rational self may want to deny the reality of "altered states" of consciousness, the vividness of the experience won't allow you to deny them entirely or to dismiss the possibility of them either.
I fond myself in constant agreement with Narby about the arrogance and consequent ignorance of Western "science" and knowledge. Finally, Narby's narrative is compulsively readable. It is a tremendously important book.
Another book I taught with class of students who similarly found it provocative and insightful.
Czar
Jeremy Narby holds a Stanford PhD in Anthropology who did his dissertation on these Amazonian peoples, though this is not his dissertation. Instead it is one of the most interesting and intellectually challenging books I have ever read! It brings together so many of the issues that interest me: Religion, Science, Evolution, Physics, Cosmology, the Supernatural, and Indigenous knowledge. I initially thought of the writings of Carlos Castaneda, but there is a scientific and intellectual rigor in Narby's book that I can not find in Castaneda's writings.
I find that Narby makes a compelling case for the unity or at least the synthesis of 20th century biology, DNA, and the indigenous knowledge and visions of these South American shamans.
Reading Narby's experience of taking hallucinogens was eerie, but I could relate to some of his sensations. Your mind is never the same after these types of experiences. Though your more rational self may want to deny the reality of "altered states" of consciousness, the vividness of the experience won't allow you to deny them entirely or to dismiss the possibility of them either.
I fond myself in constant agreement with Narby about the arrogance and consequent ignorance of Western "science" and knowledge. Finally, Narby's narrative is compulsively readable. It is a tremendously important book.
Another book I taught with class of students who similarly found it provocative and insightful.
Czar
When East Meets West
In the aftermath of 9/11 when many U.S. citizens fervently sought revenge on the Osama Bin Laden and Afghanistan for its role in the attacks, there was an email that circulated virally regarding the situation in Afghanistan and the prospects for its future if the U.S. decided to attack. The email was written by an Afgan-American named Tamim Ansary who had initially only sent the email to some of his friends. Before he knew it, he had become an Internet celebrity. He wrote this memoir after his email made its way around the world.
West of Kabul, East of New York is a touching memoir by Ansari whose parents sent him to the U.S. to finish high school. He then went to Reed College (as did I briefly) and settled down in the U.S. It is a well-written and a timely meditation on the relationship between the East and the West and between Islam and the rest of the world. Ansary is rather pessimistic about the future of East-West relations, but this is still a work worth reading.
Czar
West of Kabul, East of New York is a touching memoir by Ansari whose parents sent him to the U.S. to finish high school. He then went to Reed College (as did I briefly) and settled down in the U.S. It is a well-written and a timely meditation on the relationship between the East and the West and between Islam and the rest of the world. Ansary is rather pessimistic about the future of East-West relations, but this is still a work worth reading.
Czar
Cosmopolitanism in a shrinking world
Kwame Appiah's Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers is a brilliant and lucid book that attempts to make a case for shared values in our increasingly fragmented world. Appiah was trained as an analytic and moral philosopher, but he also wrote the foundational text on African philosophy that has been part of the movement to get away from the narrow confines of traditional continental philosophy.
Personally Appiah is the son of a Ghanian father and an English mother. He incorporates his own biography into the text to show how contingent knowledge can be. He also writes about tricky issues regarding cultural patrimony, national traditions, and global ethics. With the exception of one chapter that is rather heavy on an exposition of logical positivism, Appiah's book is not for specialists or academics. I taught this book to several classes of students and they loved it.
Czar
Personally Appiah is the son of a Ghanian father and an English mother. He incorporates his own biography into the text to show how contingent knowledge can be. He also writes about tricky issues regarding cultural patrimony, national traditions, and global ethics. With the exception of one chapter that is rather heavy on an exposition of logical positivism, Appiah's book is not for specialists or academics. I taught this book to several classes of students and they loved it.
Czar
American History before America
As part of my conviction that "American" history has for far too long existed on an East-West trajectory as opposed to a North-South one which is more historically accurate and culturally even more relevant now than ever, I assigned my American Studies students to read and/or view the film of Cabeza de Vaca's Relacion/Account in survey AMS classes.
An interesting true account of de Vaca's "adventure" after his Spanish crew was shipwrecked in Florida. He eventually walked to Texas. He was nearly unrecognizable to the Spanish soldiers that found him and his slave and indigenous companions.
A story of an encounter between Europeans and indigenous people a century or so before the pilgrims.
Czar
An interesting true account of de Vaca's "adventure" after his Spanish crew was shipwrecked in Florida. He eventually walked to Texas. He was nearly unrecognizable to the Spanish soldiers that found him and his slave and indigenous companions.
A story of an encounter between Europeans and indigenous people a century or so before the pilgrims.
Czar
WTF just happened?
I have met several academics who claim that Pedro Paramo by the Mexican writer Juan Rulfo inspired them to pursue a career in academia, specifically in Latin American literature.For all of you Garcia Marquez devotees, read this mindbending novel by a Mexican novelist who is often cited by Marquez and others as a precursor to "magical realism."
I read it in English and I'm still not sure what happened. If you thought the last couple of seasons of Lost where confusing, try this short novel on for size.
Czar
I read it in English and I'm still not sure what happened. If you thought the last couple of seasons of Lost where confusing, try this short novel on for size.
Czar
The Continuing Education of Richard Rodriguez
This particular post is about Rodriguez's first two books Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez and Days of Obligation: Arguments with My Mexican Father.
Though I don't agree with his argument in Hunger, Rodriguez is one of the writers who I admire the most and will read anything he writes.He considers topics like bilingual education and affirmative action which were controversial in the early 80s when this book came out and are still so today. Rodriguez was an aspiring academic researching his dissertation in the British Library when he has a crisis of conscience about the advantages that he received because of his heritage and ethnicity. So he abandons academia to inadvertently become a darling of conservatives since he opposes bilingual education and affirmative action, if class is not part of the equation. He can get carried away stylistically at times, but I think each book he writes is better than the last.
Hunger is collection of essays more than a sustained piece of writing.
Rodriguez's second book, Days is a better one than the first in my opinion. This has a larger focus as it covers Mexico, but still maintains his autobiographical frame.
Rodriguez also comes out as a gay man in this book, though he has always thought his sexuality was evident in his first book. Not to me it wasn't. Though he still opposes bilingual education and affirmative action, he has matured and realizes that American still has considerable issues with color, race, identity, and immigration among other topics.
Czar
Though I don't agree with his argument in Hunger, Rodriguez is one of the writers who I admire the most and will read anything he writes.He considers topics like bilingual education and affirmative action which were controversial in the early 80s when this book came out and are still so today. Rodriguez was an aspiring academic researching his dissertation in the British Library when he has a crisis of conscience about the advantages that he received because of his heritage and ethnicity. So he abandons academia to inadvertently become a darling of conservatives since he opposes bilingual education and affirmative action, if class is not part of the equation. He can get carried away stylistically at times, but I think each book he writes is better than the last.
Hunger is collection of essays more than a sustained piece of writing.
Rodriguez's second book, Days is a better one than the first in my opinion. This has a larger focus as it covers Mexico, but still maintains his autobiographical frame.
Rodriguez also comes out as a gay man in this book, though he has always thought his sexuality was evident in his first book. Not to me it wasn't. Though he still opposes bilingual education and affirmative action, he has matured and realizes that American still has considerable issues with color, race, identity, and immigration among other topics.
Czar
How to Write Well
Every one who writes in their work or their leisure should have this book. On Writing Well by William Zinsser is the BEST book I have ever read on writing. Not so much for creative writing, but for non-fiction, journalism, and even academic writing, Zinsser is the shit! Buy the 30th anniversary edition, because unlike other books, he has continued to update it over the years.
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Promising American Poet
For my money, Ben Lerner is one of the best, most intelligent, and most ambitious poets writing today. The Lichtenberg Figures is a collection of edgy sonnets that totally plays with the whole history of the sonnet form. Ben is also a great guy to have a beer with. He's originally from Topeka and edits a literary journal called No.
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How Great are the Great Books
Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf and other Indestructible Writers of the Western World is a well-written account of David Denby's decision to go back to Columbia University to re-take their "Great Books" program. The best parts are when he relates the books to people and events in his life. Thinking of Hobbes after being mugged on the subway, memories of his mother when reading King Lear, etc.
He spends too much time dichotomizing his perspective as a middle aged man to that of his young classmates. He is also took quick to discount the leftist revisions of the canon. I don't think he contextualizes the time period when Great Books programs like Columbia's began and how things have changed by the 1990s.
However, his closing chapters are very powerful and this book is worth reading. I used this considerably when I taught Western Civ at KU.
Czar
He spends too much time dichotomizing his perspective as a middle aged man to that of his young classmates. He is also took quick to discount the leftist revisions of the canon. I don't think he contextualizes the time period when Great Books programs like Columbia's began and how things have changed by the 1990s.
However, his closing chapters are very powerful and this book is worth reading. I used this considerably when I taught Western Civ at KU.
Czar
On the Road and looking for an exit
I don't know exactly when I bought this book, but it had to be after 1983 as I have a 25th anniversary edition. Probably after going to Reed College and having my friend, Jools, rave about Jack Kerouac and The Beats.
I remember reading an essay about rereading books by the critic Sven Birkerts. I think he specifically wrote about rereading On the Road. He ruefully notes that it isn't nearly as good or compelling as when he read it as teen. Since I never read this book in my "youth", I cannot comment on Birkerts' assessment, but I know that I was not impressed by this book at all.
The narrators seems like dopes, racists, and misogynists. Their adulation of "the Negro" is terribly objectifying and orientalizing. They came off sounding like privileged white boys who wish they could somehow be black! Some of their language and dialogue is so funny, especially the whole discussion of "It." The scenes where they apparently experience these moments of transcendence come off as faux mysticism.
Still Kerouac does have some narrative skill. His brief mediation on death (103) hints at the restless longing many of us have as we feel our youth slipping away. However, I cannot help thinking that the narrator as an older, but ultimately less interesting and less compelling version of Holden Caulfield
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I remember reading an essay about rereading books by the critic Sven Birkerts. I think he specifically wrote about rereading On the Road. He ruefully notes that it isn't nearly as good or compelling as when he read it as teen. Since I never read this book in my "youth", I cannot comment on Birkerts' assessment, but I know that I was not impressed by this book at all.
The narrators seems like dopes, racists, and misogynists. Their adulation of "the Negro" is terribly objectifying and orientalizing. They came off sounding like privileged white boys who wish they could somehow be black! Some of their language and dialogue is so funny, especially the whole discussion of "It." The scenes where they apparently experience these moments of transcendence come off as faux mysticism.
Still Kerouac does have some narrative skill. His brief mediation on death (103) hints at the restless longing many of us have as we feel our youth slipping away. However, I cannot help thinking that the narrator as an older, but ultimately less interesting and less compelling version of Holden Caulfield
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The search for knowledge
I think this makes a great graduation gift for high school seniors. At the same time, it is a veritable treasure trove of information about the history of the West and of a good deal of world history. Daniel Boorstin, a trained historian and the former Librarian of Congress has an encyclopedic grasp of his subject and writes with elegance and wit. Though you might not expect it, this is a page turner of a book. He has a tremendous gift for storytelling and his characterizations bring so many time periods and historical personages off the page that it had a virtual documentary feel to it.
The Discoverers: A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself is one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read.
The Discoverers: A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself is one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read.
God and Philosophy
God and the Philosophers: The Reconciliation of Faith and Reason is Thomas Morris' anthology of philosophers speaking about their own religious faith and often conversions contains not as much "reason" as the subtitle suggests. Many of the contributors are academic philosophers and primarily Protestant believers. They do good intellectual biographies, but most cannot seem to articulate how their reason led them to faith. Now, reason does not have to be the primary criteria, but this read more in part like stories of religious conversion from a group of professional philosophers.
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The biography of God
God: A Biography is one of the most original and compelling readings of The Tanakh (The Hebrew Scriptures), I've come across. Miles is a former Biblical scholar and Jesuit priest, but this is a very scrupulous and balanced take on Yahweh that I have ever come across. His reading of Job is illuminating.
I used this every time I taught the Hebrew Scriptures in my HWC classes at KU. It is a fascinating work and very provocative in his readings and conclusions about the nature of Yahweh.
Czar
I used this every time I taught the Hebrew Scriptures in my HWC classes at KU. It is a fascinating work and very provocative in his readings and conclusions about the nature of Yahweh.
Czar
A Philosopher's Philosophy
Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy is dated, but a classic in the field by one of the 20th centuries most influential philosophers. It is interesting to see how he handles his predecessors. Mostly fair, but he was also a prominent atheist, so the more religious philosophers get a bit of a slanted take by Russell. Russell won the Nobel Prize for Literature so he writes extraordinarily well and can truly explain the central philosophical problems throughout the ages.
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Philosophy for Dummies
The Great Philosophers: An Introduction to Western Philosophy is a great book because it is taken from a TV program where experts on a particular philosopher would be interviewed by Bryan Magee who is himself a philosopher. So, you get very conversational, but still substantive explanations on the big names in Western Philosophy.
If you need help getting through an intro philosophy class or simply want to know more about Western Philosophy this is the book for you.
Czar
If you need help getting through an intro philosophy class or simply want to know more about Western Philosophy this is the book for you.
Czar
Jesus the Revolutionary
For 3/4 of this Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, John Dominic Crossan strikes me as a typical lapsed believer who has to explain away everything that doesn't fit with his theory/reading of Jesus. Perhaps he gives reasons in some of his other writings, but Crossan has a zealous, if not obsessive disdain for anything supernatural. This is fine for an atheist or agnostic, but when he talks about Christianity or faith in the last chapters, I had to ask what type of God does he believe in?
His cross-cultural method is solid, but he does not subject these alternate sources to the same scrutiny that he does for the canonical gospels. He never tells you why The Gospel of Thomas or the Q Gospel, if he does exist as a "gospel", are better than the four Gospels in The New Testament. His methodology here is sloppy, if not random. I find his explanation for how the Gospels were constructed to be more more implausible than just accepting them as mostly accurate accounts of some of the life and teachings of jesus. If this is what the Jesus Seminar is all about, I'm not terribly impressed.
Czar
His cross-cultural method is solid, but he does not subject these alternate sources to the same scrutiny that he does for the canonical gospels. He never tells you why The Gospel of Thomas or the Q Gospel, if he does exist as a "gospel", are better than the four Gospels in The New Testament. His methodology here is sloppy, if not random. I find his explanation for how the Gospels were constructed to be more more implausible than just accepting them as mostly accurate accounts of some of the life and teachings of jesus. If this is what the Jesus Seminar is all about, I'm not terribly impressed.
Czar
Healing ourselves
Norman Cousins is a hell of a good writer. I guess he was a long-time editor of the Saturday Review. He engages you by taking complex medical issues and humanizing them. I think the autobiographical component is the best part of the book.
It is amazing how sick he was and how completely he recovered. I also agree that the patient needs to be very involved in his/her healing, of course, much has changed in medicine since Anatomy of an Illness was published. Perhaps this is a result of his writing,especially regarding the patient-doctor relationship.
One thing that needs to be noted is that Cousins has the advantage of wealth and has access to the finest doctors in the U.S. and the world. He doesn't really acknowledge this. Nor does he consider how his education factored into his approach to healing.
Yes, patients can get access to information, but would your average patient be able to interpret the information as well as Cousins does?
I would recommend this book for anyone battling a major illness and for anyone in the health care field.
Czar
It is amazing how sick he was and how completely he recovered. I also agree that the patient needs to be very involved in his/her healing, of course, much has changed in medicine since Anatomy of an Illness was published. Perhaps this is a result of his writing,especially regarding the patient-doctor relationship.
One thing that needs to be noted is that Cousins has the advantage of wealth and has access to the finest doctors in the U.S. and the world. He doesn't really acknowledge this. Nor does he consider how his education factored into his approach to healing.
Yes, patients can get access to information, but would your average patient be able to interpret the information as well as Cousins does?
I would recommend this book for anyone battling a major illness and for anyone in the health care field.
Czar
The art of the essay
I first read Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony in high school. Thomas was a medical doctor, cancer researcher, and contributor of short essays about medicine and science to the New England Journal of Medicine and other publications. This included some of those, but also had other essays about nuclear war and the arts and humanities.
It is in some ways a period peace as during the mid 1980s Thomas was seriously worried about the prospect of nuclear annihilation at the hands of Ronald Raygun or the evil Soviet Empire that only lasted for about 5 years after this book was published. The title essay refers to Thomas no longer being able to listen to this symphony without imagining the end of life on earth. It seems quaint to have that belief now, but it was a real fear 25 years ago. Late Night Thoughts is a beautifully written book. Thomas' work is one of the reasons I enjoy the essay so much as a literary genre.
Czar
It is in some ways a period peace as during the mid 1980s Thomas was seriously worried about the prospect of nuclear annihilation at the hands of Ronald Raygun or the evil Soviet Empire that only lasted for about 5 years after this book was published. The title essay refers to Thomas no longer being able to listen to this symphony without imagining the end of life on earth. It seems quaint to have that belief now, but it was a real fear 25 years ago. Late Night Thoughts is a beautifully written book. Thomas' work is one of the reasons I enjoy the essay so much as a literary genre.
Czar
John Knowles search for peace
Having long dreamed of attending a prep school like Exeter that Knowles fictionalizes in both A Separate Peace and Peace Breaks Out, I recently re-read A Separate Peace and read Peace Breaks Out for the first time this spring. As an aside, I don't know if it is possible for former Exonians to write about their school without an undercurrent of death. In addition to Knowles, John Irving has written at least two novels, The World According to Garp and A Widow for One Year that are all partially set at a fictionalized Exeter and have students dying and a fair amount of violence in their narratives.
The main focus of A Separate Peace is the relationship between Gene and Phineas, who is an amazing natural athlete. I thought Knowles created a really believable and vivid friendship between these two and did an admirable job of getting into the psyche of adolescent boys in WWII America. I found him to be a dazzling and eloquent writer too.
Skip twenty years or so into the future in real time, but only a few years in fictional time and we have another novel set at this same school with a protagonist who is an alum returning from WW II to his old school to become a teacher. The tone is entirely different and if I didn't know any better, I wouldn't have attributed Peace Breaks Out to the same other as A Separate Peace. It is a much more cynical book and Knowles for the most part abandons the poetic and elegiac tone of his earlier work.
Czar
The main focus of A Separate Peace is the relationship between Gene and Phineas, who is an amazing natural athlete. I thought Knowles created a really believable and vivid friendship between these two and did an admirable job of getting into the psyche of adolescent boys in WWII America. I found him to be a dazzling and eloquent writer too.
Skip twenty years or so into the future in real time, but only a few years in fictional time and we have another novel set at this same school with a protagonist who is an alum returning from WW II to his old school to become a teacher. The tone is entirely different and if I didn't know any better, I wouldn't have attributed Peace Breaks Out to the same other as A Separate Peace. It is a much more cynical book and Knowles for the most part abandons the poetic and elegiac tone of his earlier work.
Czar
Gatsby
What an amazing piece of writing. Does it honestly get much better than this? Had Fitzgerald written nothing else, he still would have had a lasting legacy with this novel.
Though it is relatively short, it is incredibly rich and leaves itself open to a variety of readings. A truly gorgeous novel.
Czar
Though it is relatively short, it is incredibly rich and leaves itself open to a variety of readings. A truly gorgeous novel.
Czar
Robert Pirsig is a talented writer and I really enjoy the whole "Phaedrus" thing, although the mystery of who or what Phaedrus is left me ambivalent at times.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values grabs you narratively and keeps you engaged. I thought the whole Chataqua premise was corny and unnecessary.
His discussion of science and quality was excellent. I do agree that intelligence is often held against you and undervalued in American society. I too do not always understand the gatekeeping that goes on within academia, although I do appreciate it better now than I used to.
I still like Aristotle, though I can see Pirsig's criticism of Aristotle and his influence. It was interesting to read Pirsig's take on Reed College, a school I briefly attended 25 years ago
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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values grabs you narratively and keeps you engaged. I thought the whole Chataqua premise was corny and unnecessary.
His discussion of science and quality was excellent. I do agree that intelligence is often held against you and undervalued in American society. I too do not always understand the gatekeeping that goes on within academia, although I do appreciate it better now than I used to.
I still like Aristotle, though I can see Pirsig's criticism of Aristotle and his influence. It was interesting to read Pirsig's take on Reed College, a school I briefly attended 25 years ago
Czar
Not your Mother's mother
Okay, Unraveled: The True Story of a Woman Who Dared to Become a Different Kind of Mother almost needs to be read in tandem with her earlier "Hannah's Gift" about the brief life of her daughter who died as a toddler. After the death of her daughter, the author's marriage begins to fall apart. So, she takes a retreat where she meets a man who becomes her second husband. They have a torrid affair while on this retreat and she comes home to tell her husband that she doesn't love him any longer and wants a divorce.
She also chooses to leave, one or two children, with her husband. She makes a pretty clean break of it too. However, she eventually decides that she needs to be in her childrens' lives.
It is rather disturbing, but it also points on the very gendered and heteronormative nature of modern American marriage and motherhood. I'll give the author big props for candor.
Czar
She also chooses to leave, one or two children, with her husband. She makes a pretty clean break of it too. However, she eventually decides that she needs to be in her childrens' lives.
It is rather disturbing, but it also points on the very gendered and heteronormative nature of modern American marriage and motherhood. I'll give the author big props for candor.
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Ted Hughes' Alcestis
This is a rather tender and moving play for Euripides, but I especially like this translation by Ted Hughes, widower of Sylvia Plath. Given that this is a play about a wife who offers to die for her husband, I cannot help but think that Hughes had Plath in mind when he translated this play.
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A 20th century Puritan
I really enjoyed Paul Mariani's biography of John Berryman, Dream Song, so I had high hopes for this book too. Mostly everything I liked about the Berryman bio is missing from here. It is tedious with too much detail and is basically a very matter of fact retelling of Lowell's life. It is reminiscent of Michael Mott's The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton in this respect.
The life of the subject is lost in all the details. Instead of interpreting the details and information through his own critical filter, Mariani just piles it on. It's weird, but Mariani is himself a respected American poet, but as a biographer he seems to lose all that makes poetry worth reading. The vividness, the discriminating use of details, the voice, all these are absent from Mariani's work.
He rarely even tries to read Lowell's poetry critically. He talks of the critical reception of his work, and quotes contemporaries or other critics, but offers too little of his own analysis.
Mariani seems to be in such awe of Lowell that he refuses to consider him critically. It would be a good reference work if you did not know much about Robert Lowell, but not for any insight into him as a poet. If you want a good biography of Robert Lowell, I'd recommend Ian Hamilton's Robert Lowell: A Biography.
Czar
The life of the subject is lost in all the details. Instead of interpreting the details and information through his own critical filter, Mariani just piles it on. It's weird, but Mariani is himself a respected American poet, but as a biographer he seems to lose all that makes poetry worth reading. The vividness, the discriminating use of details, the voice, all these are absent from Mariani's work.
He rarely even tries to read Lowell's poetry critically. He talks of the critical reception of his work, and quotes contemporaries or other critics, but offers too little of his own analysis.
Mariani seems to be in such awe of Lowell that he refuses to consider him critically. It would be a good reference work if you did not know much about Robert Lowell, but not for any insight into him as a poet. If you want a good biography of Robert Lowell, I'd recommend Ian Hamilton's Robert Lowell: A Biography.
Czar
Poetry in Boston
The Fading Smile: Poets in Boston from Robert Lowell to Sylvia Plath is a poignant, lyrical, and revealing memoir on Boston area poets like Lowell, Plath, Anne Sexton, and others. Peter Davison seems to have known or met everyone. He dated Plath briefly, attended Harvard with many of these writers, and as the poetry editor of The Atlantic Monthly and a publisher and editor, published many of these writers.
I like his decision to organize this book around the Boston literary scene. Though he usually only devotes a chapter to a particular poet, I think his portraits are often superior to book-length treatments of these writers. An admirable combination of literary analysis and memoir.
I actually met Davison once when he came to read his own poetry at Reed College. A very intelligent, friendly, and gracious man.
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I like his decision to organize this book around the Boston literary scene. Though he usually only devotes a chapter to a particular poet, I think his portraits are often superior to book-length treatments of these writers. An admirable combination of literary analysis and memoir.
I actually met Davison once when he came to read his own poetry at Reed College. A very intelligent, friendly, and gracious man.
Czar
Poetry and Mania
Jeffrey Myers is a well-respected biographer who has written on a variety of poets, novelists, and other writers, but this is a classic example of an author making his materials fit his thesis. While this is a good read, Myers' work is shoddy on scholarship. I've read enough of the poetry and secondary sources on both Berryman and Lowell to know that this is a disservice to both of them and their work. The section on Randall Jarrell and Theodore Roethke I can say less about.
Manic Power: Robert Lowell and His Circle has an obvious debt to Nietzsche's Dionysian/Apollonian paradigm. By claiming that these writers "suffer" for their art, he discounts the importance and influence of mental illness, alcoholism, and other factors like family history. A fascinating case study, but I can't imagine that serious scholars of these poets would give his thesis much credence. It is a considerable critical leap.
A better work covering similar ground is Bruce Bawer's The Middle Generation: The Lives and Poetry of Delmore Schwartz, Randall Jarrell, John Berryman, and Robert Lowell.
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Manic Power: Robert Lowell and His Circle has an obvious debt to Nietzsche's Dionysian/Apollonian paradigm. By claiming that these writers "suffer" for their art, he discounts the importance and influence of mental illness, alcoholism, and other factors like family history. A fascinating case study, but I can't imagine that serious scholars of these poets would give his thesis much credence. It is a considerable critical leap.
A better work covering similar ground is Bruce Bawer's The Middle Generation: The Lives and Poetry of Delmore Schwartz, Randall Jarrell, John Berryman, and Robert Lowell.
Czar
World Religions
The anthology edited by Clifton Fadiman titled The World Treasury of Modern Religious Thought is another book I found through the Book of the Month Club (BOMC). I'm glad I did too. This is the best one-volume anthology of world religions I have found. The essays are often written by prominent religious thinkers like Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Martin Buber, and others. It also has excellent essays by religious scholars who are less known by the general public, but are prominent scholars of particular religious traditions. Atheism is also well-represented in this volume too, adding an important voice to the dialogue underway in this collection.
Czar
Czar
Existentialism Primers
I first discovered Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre by Walter Kaufmann at a Library book sale where I picked up a cheap paperback copy. I had by this time read some excerpts of Sartre and I think a bit of Kierkegaard and knew of Kaufmann from his work with Goethe's Faust and the works of Nietzsche. It was originally published in 1956, but has been republished through 2003, though I don't know how much updating Kaufmann did over the years.
Still, this was a great introduction to the philosophy of existentialism in both literature and philosophy.
Czar
Still, this was a great introduction to the philosophy of existentialism in both literature and philosophy.
Czar
The Tao
I have read a few different translations of the Tao Te Ching, including versions by Stephen Mitchell and John Wu. I have another version by my former boss and colleague, Stanley Lombardo that I have not made my way through yet. At this time, I prefer the version of John Wu, because Wu translates more faithfully to the actual Chinese text. Again, when you are dealing with poetry, the idea of translation becomes rather slippery. However, Mitchell in his notes admits that he has made sometimes major changes to the text because he feels he has a better sense of what the author meant to say. I'm obviously paraphrasing Mitchell here, but I think it does give the gist of Mitchell's method for reworking Lao Tzu. I'm not comfortable with that sort of interpretation, because it is not really translating if you change not so much the words, but the thoughts of the original author and text.
Regardless of these pedantic asides, anyone unfamiliar with the Tao should check it out.
Czar
Regardless of these pedantic asides, anyone unfamiliar with the Tao should check it out.
Czar
Enlightening your Heart and Mind
Both of these anthologies, The Enlightened Heart and the Enlightened Mind, are edited by the scholar, poet, translator, Stephen Mitchell. For those of you interested in poetic and religious ecumenism, I would highly recommend these two works to you. The first is an anthology of world poetry with mostly religious and mystical themes. The second is a related collection of writings from sacred scriptures from nearly all of the major world religions.
Both works demonstrate how much we all, as world citizens, share despite our national, cultural, ethnic, or religious differences.
Czar
Both works demonstrate how much we all, as world citizens, share despite our national, cultural, ethnic, or religious differences.
Czar
Practicing Peace
Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist Zen master who Martin Luther King, Jr. nominated for the Noble Prize. His book Being Peace is a transcript of a talk he gave on the subject of peace in the mid 1980s. It is so readable and quotable, not to mention full of wisdom and hope. Great stuff!
Czar
Czar
Reading Rumi
I first read Rumi in Stephen Mitchell's anthology of world poetry titled The Enlightened Heart. I subsequently read some of his poetry in editions published by various presses. Rumi was a 13th century poet born in Afghanistan who is representative of the current in Islam known as Sufism, which is a more mystical and less dogmatic form of Islam. Rumi is known for his sensual and playful poems. If nothing else, he is worth reading to see the variety of currents within a religion like Islam that is often relegated to a monolithic form associated with fundamentalism and violence.
Czar
Czar
Race on the Genomic level
Undoubtedly there are few topics as controversial in the history of the United States than the concept of race. From founding documents like the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, to the Gettysburg Address, MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech to President Obama's Inaugural Address, race has maintained a central role in the national identity of the U.S.
Jenny Reardon's fascinating and sophisticated ethnographic work on the scientists and science behind race takes this discussion to a whole new level- that of the genome. Race to the Finish: Identity and Governance in an Age of Genomics is a truly interdisciplinary work that gets the science right, but also demonstrates that unfortunately the work of these scientists cannot nor should not be isolated in their pristine research labs. No one lives in a vacuum and I think this book shows exactly the issues at play when scientists and pundits speak about the "biological irrelevance" of race.
Though it is a reworking of her doctoral dissertation, I used this with a class of mostly juniors and they were able to handle it just fine. I should disclose that Jenny Reardon is a friend of mine who I knew from my undergraduate days at the University of Kansas. Nevertheless, her book rocks!
Czar
Jenny Reardon's fascinating and sophisticated ethnographic work on the scientists and science behind race takes this discussion to a whole new level- that of the genome. Race to the Finish: Identity and Governance in an Age of Genomics is a truly interdisciplinary work that gets the science right, but also demonstrates that unfortunately the work of these scientists cannot nor should not be isolated in their pristine research labs. No one lives in a vacuum and I think this book shows exactly the issues at play when scientists and pundits speak about the "biological irrelevance" of race.
Though it is a reworking of her doctoral dissertation, I used this with a class of mostly juniors and they were able to handle it just fine. I should disclose that Jenny Reardon is a friend of mine who I knew from my undergraduate days at the University of Kansas. Nevertheless, her book rocks!
Czar
A Frenchman in America
I'll confess that I have not read Democracy in America in its entirety, but I have read enough to know that this is a work that every American student (U.S. or otherwise) should be familiar with. I made it a mission of mine to have my American Studies students read portions of de Tocqueville because I passionately believe that he is an other who should be on the American Studies canon, if there were an American Studies canon. I don't think you can call yourself a true student of America (regardless of your field of study or discipline) if you are not conversant with Democracy in America. I have the Mansfield volume, but there are many excellent editions. Read It!
Czar
Czar
Grad School Guides
Graduate School Companion by Princeton Review, Graduate School for the Twenty-First Century by Gregory Colon Semenza, Getting What You Came For by Robert Peters, The Chicago Guide to Your Academic Career by John A. Goldsmith, et. al.
I used to help direct a program for students interested in academia. These are the main texts I used. The Grad School Companion has some useful information, but alone it is not worth using. I do like some of the ways it helps students to consider what issues are important in making their informed choice of the best graduate program for their needs. Similarly, the Chicago Guide is co-written by three different academics and suffers from the lack of a single voice. Some of their roundtable discussions are useful, but it is probably better for those already in grad school. Getting What You Came For is a good book, but it is rather dated and written for students interested in the sciences. For my money, and from the responses of my former students, Semenza is the best of the bunch. Having said that, he is writing for humanists and to a lesser degree students in the social sciences. However, I do think he touches on a variety of topics that even students in the sciences can profit from considering.
Grad school is a grind, but with some of these resources, you will have a step up on your peers.
Czar
I used to help direct a program for students interested in academia. These are the main texts I used. The Grad School Companion has some useful information, but alone it is not worth using. I do like some of the ways it helps students to consider what issues are important in making their informed choice of the best graduate program for their needs. Similarly, the Chicago Guide is co-written by three different academics and suffers from the lack of a single voice. Some of their roundtable discussions are useful, but it is probably better for those already in grad school. Getting What You Came For is a good book, but it is rather dated and written for students interested in the sciences. For my money, and from the responses of my former students, Semenza is the best of the bunch. Having said that, he is writing for humanists and to a lesser degree students in the social sciences. However, I do think he touches on a variety of topics that even students in the sciences can profit from considering.
Grad school is a grind, but with some of these resources, you will have a step up on your peers.
Czar
Post-Colonial Studies
Two works that I would recommend in tandem are The Post-Colonial Studies Reader (2nd ed. 2005) edited by Bill Ashcroft, published by Routledge Press and Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory edited by Williams and Chrisman, published by Longman.
The first volume had an impressive collection of primary source postcolonial readings running the gambit from former British colonies in the Carribbean and Africa, as well as more Asian postcolonial theorists from the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent. The second work has longer, but complete texts, including the famous or infamous essay, "Can the Subaltern Speak" by Gayatri Spivak. Both have excellent introductions and together provide a rather comprehensive introduction into Postcolonial Studies. I subjected some of my students to some of the Colonial Discourse volume and about 1/3 of the class dropped after that first week.
Czar
The first volume had an impressive collection of primary source postcolonial readings running the gambit from former British colonies in the Carribbean and Africa, as well as more Asian postcolonial theorists from the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent. The second work has longer, but complete texts, including the famous or infamous essay, "Can the Subaltern Speak" by Gayatri Spivak. Both have excellent introductions and together provide a rather comprehensive introduction into Postcolonial Studies. I subjected some of my students to some of the Colonial Discourse volume and about 1/3 of the class dropped after that first week.
Czar
Critical Theory
For those of you in grad school or soon to be headed that way, I would highly recommend A Dictionary of Critical and Cultural Theory published by Blackwell. It was first published in 1997 and I don't know if there has been a second edition, but this was an invaluable resource for me during my grad years. It is a true dictionary and not very portable, but I found its depth to be more useful than some of the other more concise editions. It doesn't have everything, not that any volume does, but I usually found what I needed to know and then some with this resource.
Czar
Czar
Chicano Literary Theory
Dear Friends,
Please indulge me in a few academic posts here and there. Haven't spent a decade or more toiling in the fields of Chicana/o and Latina/o literary and cultural theory, I have to find an outlet for this work every now and then. I've very judiciously resisted the urge to comment on each and every book of theory I read, but I do have to single out Juan Bruce Novoa's Retrospace:Collected Essays on Chicano Literature, Theory, and History. First, Bruce Novoa's work was the first I found when I became interested in this subject as a KU undergrad. Novoa is one of the first theorists to devote a considerable amount of work to this field. Though he is an academic, his writing is also relatively free of the theoretical and critical jargon that others primarily used as Chicano theory and criticism became more institutionalized.
Finally, Bruce Novoa even during the heyday of Chicana/o literature and civil rights, is rightly critical of the emergence of a Chicana/o canon that tended to marginalize those works and writers who did not conform to what the critics felt Chicana/o identity was. As someone who identifies as a Chicano, but who has a Germanic surname, does not speak Spanish as a native, and who is not usually identified as a Chicano, this spoke to me.
Czar
Please indulge me in a few academic posts here and there. Haven't spent a decade or more toiling in the fields of Chicana/o and Latina/o literary and cultural theory, I have to find an outlet for this work every now and then. I've very judiciously resisted the urge to comment on each and every book of theory I read, but I do have to single out Juan Bruce Novoa's Retrospace:Collected Essays on Chicano Literature, Theory, and History. First, Bruce Novoa's work was the first I found when I became interested in this subject as a KU undergrad. Novoa is one of the first theorists to devote a considerable amount of work to this field. Though he is an academic, his writing is also relatively free of the theoretical and critical jargon that others primarily used as Chicano theory and criticism became more institutionalized.
Finally, Bruce Novoa even during the heyday of Chicana/o literature and civil rights, is rightly critical of the emergence of a Chicana/o canon that tended to marginalize those works and writers who did not conform to what the critics felt Chicana/o identity was. As someone who identifies as a Chicano, but who has a Germanic surname, does not speak Spanish as a native, and who is not usually identified as a Chicano, this spoke to me.
Czar
Lazarillo de Tormes
One of my all-time favorite works of literature. I am such a fan of this Spanish novel that one of my email account names is "Lazarillo de Tormes." Considered the first picaresque novel and a classic of Golden Age Spanish literature. It is a very bawdy and satirical tale of a young boy named Lazaro or Lazarillo who is poor and is apprenticed to a cruel blind man by his family.
There are some decent English translations, but this is best read in the original. If you have to read a translation, I would go with W.S. Merwin's translation. I wrote a third of my undergrad thesis on Lazarillo.
Czar
There are some decent English translations, but this is best read in the original. If you have to read a translation, I would go with W.S. Merwin's translation. I wrote a third of my undergrad thesis on Lazarillo.
Czar
Dante's Divine Comedy
Dante and I go way back to my sophomore year of high school when I was introduced to The Inferno in my high school Humanities class. For many students and readers, The Inferno is the only exposure one gets to Dante. This is a great shame. I was fortunate to attend Reed College where I read the entire Divine Comedy in their one year Humanities 1 class. This experience of reading two different translations of Dante was instructive for me too. I think like many readers, I assumed you could just do a single word for word (Babelfish) type of translation. I think it was Robert Frost who said something about poetry being what cannot be translated. This is often true, because when you can experience the mastery of someone like Shakespeare in his original English, you might wonder how this is going to be conveyed in another language.
My first reading of Dante was through John Ciardi's poetic rendering that attempted to partially preserve the terza rima of the original Italian. I think it is in his Purgatorio that he provides his method for translating Dante into English poetry. While I can appreciate the work he does, it shows how much of the original Italian is lost even with an American poet like John Ciardi, who freely admitted he was no Italianist.
At Reed, we read the full translation of Allen Mandelbaum. Mandelbaum is a poet too, but he is also a very accomplished translator of modern Italian poets like Quasimodo and Ungaretti, as well as being an award-winning translator of Virgil's Aeneid, which he translated prior to tackling the Divine Comedy. Mandelbaum does not attempt to keep the Italian form of terza rima, but I think he does a masterful job of translating the poetry of Dante into English. I did study Italian at KU and was, at one time, able to read Dante in the original Italian. Thus far, Mandelbaum is my preferred translator of Dante.
When I transferred back to KU, I took the class offered by KU's Dante scholar Richard Kay on the Divine Comedy. Professor Kay choose yet another translation: the Penguin version by Mark Musa. I asked him why he did Musa over Mandelbaum. He admitted that Mandelbaum is a more poetic and faithful translation, but that Musa's contained much better end notes for students. I would agree with this assessment and Musa's translation does have some good touches of the original poetry too.
Since I last read an entire complete translation of Dante, there have been several notable translations of parts or all of the Commedia. I have read Robert Pinsky's Inferno, which reminds me of Ciardi's, only updated. I think Pinsky does an admirable job, but it is not Dante.
I have, but have not read the translation by the Hollander's, though it is on my list of books to get too. I also want to read W.S. Merwin's Purgatorio, which is often not read like the final section of the Paradiso. Other translators like C.H. Sisson and Michael Palma have made translations too, so there is still plenty of work to be done in these areas. As I work through these various translations, I will be sure to post my thoughts here.
Happy Reading, pilgrims!
Czar
My first reading of Dante was through John Ciardi's poetic rendering that attempted to partially preserve the terza rima of the original Italian. I think it is in his Purgatorio that he provides his method for translating Dante into English poetry. While I can appreciate the work he does, it shows how much of the original Italian is lost even with an American poet like John Ciardi, who freely admitted he was no Italianist.
At Reed, we read the full translation of Allen Mandelbaum. Mandelbaum is a poet too, but he is also a very accomplished translator of modern Italian poets like Quasimodo and Ungaretti, as well as being an award-winning translator of Virgil's Aeneid, which he translated prior to tackling the Divine Comedy. Mandelbaum does not attempt to keep the Italian form of terza rima, but I think he does a masterful job of translating the poetry of Dante into English. I did study Italian at KU and was, at one time, able to read Dante in the original Italian. Thus far, Mandelbaum is my preferred translator of Dante.
When I transferred back to KU, I took the class offered by KU's Dante scholar Richard Kay on the Divine Comedy. Professor Kay choose yet another translation: the Penguin version by Mark Musa. I asked him why he did Musa over Mandelbaum. He admitted that Mandelbaum is a more poetic and faithful translation, but that Musa's contained much better end notes for students. I would agree with this assessment and Musa's translation does have some good touches of the original poetry too.
Since I last read an entire complete translation of Dante, there have been several notable translations of parts or all of the Commedia. I have read Robert Pinsky's Inferno, which reminds me of Ciardi's, only updated. I think Pinsky does an admirable job, but it is not Dante.
I have, but have not read the translation by the Hollander's, though it is on my list of books to get too. I also want to read W.S. Merwin's Purgatorio, which is often not read like the final section of the Paradiso. Other translators like C.H. Sisson and Michael Palma have made translations too, so there is still plenty of work to be done in these areas. As I work through these various translations, I will be sure to post my thoughts here.
Happy Reading, pilgrims!
Czar
Greek Pastorals
The version of The Idylls by Theocritus I read was a translation by Daryl Hine, though I cannot speak to the accuracy of the translation from the ancient Greek. Hine is somewhat chippy about other translators however.
This work is much more bawdy and erotic than I expected. Very homoerotic 'pastoral' poems that make me look at Richard Rodriguez's use "the pastoral" in a different light. I'm also reminded of Ginsburg on occasion and even hip hop, because often there is a contest of sorts between two shepherd/poets. The language is not ornamental, but rather plain like the work of Hesiod. I don't see much of the bucolic trope of later pastoral poets like Virgil or Milton. Nevertheless there is a strong undercurrent of desire in these poems.
Czar
This work is much more bawdy and erotic than I expected. Very homoerotic 'pastoral' poems that make me look at Richard Rodriguez's use "the pastoral" in a different light. I'm also reminded of Ginsburg on occasion and even hip hop, because often there is a contest of sorts between two shepherd/poets. The language is not ornamental, but rather plain like the work of Hesiod. I don't see much of the bucolic trope of later pastoral poets like Virgil or Milton. Nevertheless there is a strong undercurrent of desire in these poems.
Czar
Gilgamesh
What a difference a text can make. I did not find Ferry's translation of Horace to be impressive, but I love what he has done with Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in English Verse. His method is reminiscent of Robert Lowell's work in Imitations, where Lowell often translates from other English translations rather than consulting the original language. Ferry does this here. His use of repetition, similar to Homeric epithets is well done.
I've taught N.K. Sandars' Penguin edition, which is probably more faithful to the original, but the poetry is not there. It is here in Ferry's translation.
Czar
I've taught N.K. Sandars' Penguin edition, which is probably more faithful to the original, but the poetry is not there. It is here in Ferry's translation.
Czar
Horace and the Buddy Poem
The Odes of Horace: A Bilingual Edition. I think that Horace is best taken in small doses. Trying to read ode after ode becomes somewhat overwhelming. Ferry has some good lines, but I don't feel he's a poet/translator like Robert Fitzgerald or Allen Mandelbaum. Perhaps this is merely Horace, but I don't know Latin.
Horace can be very epigrammatic, though there is a certain melancholy to these odes, which might be the influence of Stoicism. The sentiment is often noble, though at times there is a certain sensuality as well. These are very masculine poems, many are virtually "buddy" poems.
Czar
Horace can be very epigrammatic, though there is a certain melancholy to these odes, which might be the influence of Stoicism. The sentiment is often noble, though at times there is a certain sensuality as well. These are very masculine poems, many are virtually "buddy" poems.
Czar
New African American Poetry
Kevin Young went to the same high school I did in Topeka, KS, but I do not think this is the home referenced in the title. Must be nice to study poetry with Seamus Heaney, but that's what getting into Harvard will do for you.
Kevin is a gifted poet with a knack for lyrical descriptions and he keeps the narrative flowing in his verse. However, at times there is almost too much narrative going on. Some of these poems read like history lessons, they are fine but I question the veracity of the experience. His use of the first person seems anachronistic at times, because I don't think he is old enough to have lived through some of these events he narrates. Overall, Most Way Home is an excellent first collection of poems.
Czar
Kevin is a gifted poet with a knack for lyrical descriptions and he keeps the narrative flowing in his verse. However, at times there is almost too much narrative going on. Some of these poems read like history lessons, they are fine but I question the veracity of the experience. His use of the first person seems anachronistic at times, because I don't think he is old enough to have lived through some of these events he narrates. Overall, Most Way Home is an excellent first collection of poems.
Czar
Jesus Lives
Jesus: The Man Who Lives is a powerful book. Malcolm Muggeridge writes with tremendous passion and lucidity. This is an inspiring book because Muggeridge makes faith in Jesus so tangible and compelling. He is cynical and witty at times, but he is also extraordinarily faithful to his Lord and even to his Church. Muggeridge was a convert to Christianity, having been a Communist earlier in his life.
The illustrations in the book are nice, if haphazard, but they do form a suitable complement to the text. You cannot finish this work without feeling some reverence, especially if you are a believer. Muggeridge's enthusiasm for Jesus is evident on every page. He is a dazzling stylist, but doesn't allow this to overpower his narrative.
Czar
The illustrations in the book are nice, if haphazard, but they do form a suitable complement to the text. You cannot finish this work without feeling some reverence, especially if you are a believer. Muggeridge's enthusiasm for Jesus is evident on every page. He is a dazzling stylist, but doesn't allow this to overpower his narrative.
Czar
What Would Jesus Do?
Joshua: A Parable for Today is a compelling read, but is not the best written book. Joseph Girzone tells a pretty good story, but parts of this read like stuff coming out of an intro fiction writing class. The conversations are stilted and artificial.
Nevertheless, the conceit of Jesus coming back to Earth under the radar is refreshing. There is a sort of Will Rogers wit to Girzone's observations about religious practice, all the more interesting coming from a retired Catholic priest.
His riff on marriage is passionate, but incomplete. Certainly Catholicism has overregulated this and annulment has been a nightmre, but the character, Joshua, seems to forget his own words about marriage in the Gospels.
How Joshua interacts with Jewish characters is refreshing, but also left underdeveloped. I thought his dialogue with Catholic church officials could have been a bit more biting and incisive, especially the constant references to Joshua not having the authority to comment on Church matters.
Girzone calls this "a modern parable", but I don't see the lesson fleshed out completely, although I suppose one could say the same thing about the scriptural parables.
Czar
Nevertheless, the conceit of Jesus coming back to Earth under the radar is refreshing. There is a sort of Will Rogers wit to Girzone's observations about religious practice, all the more interesting coming from a retired Catholic priest.
His riff on marriage is passionate, but incomplete. Certainly Catholicism has overregulated this and annulment has been a nightmre, but the character, Joshua, seems to forget his own words about marriage in the Gospels.
How Joshua interacts with Jewish characters is refreshing, but also left underdeveloped. I thought his dialogue with Catholic church officials could have been a bit more biting and incisive, especially the constant references to Joshua not having the authority to comment on Church matters.
Girzone calls this "a modern parable", but I don't see the lesson fleshed out completely, although I suppose one could say the same thing about the scriptural parables.
Czar
Phormio by Terence is a work with little substance. Phormio is the most interesting character, the rest are mostly one dimensional and leaden. Another play with mistaken identity at the core, but so slight when compared to the Greeks or later Comedy.Plautus' The Captives is a Roman comedy, but the Roman comedies pale in comparison to the work of Aristopanes. It does not have the humor of Aristophanes and if it is more of a tragi-comedy, it doe not have the seriousness, the gravitas of the Greek tragedies.
Intricate plots, Byzantine intrigues, but little drama or comedy. Shakespeare could take similiar material and work wonders with it. All in all, rather thin.
Czar
Intricate plots, Byzantine intrigues, but little drama or comedy. Shakespeare could take similiar material and work wonders with it. All in all, rather thin.
Czar
Racine's Phedre
This post is a combo of my reading of three versions of this Racine play. Blame my comparative literature background on this one.
The eminent American poet Robert Lowell translates the classic play Phaedra by Racine in rhyming couplets. This form can work for some genres, but even if Racine had couplets in the original, in English, it does not work. It is overly mannered and I found myself going "da,da, da, da" as I read this version. I would have loved to see Lowell do a version in blank verse to see what he could have produced.
Ted Hughes' version is pretty good. It is concise and direct. I wonder if this type of writing is what made Samuel Beckett such a fan of Racine? Of course, Hughes despite being the British Poet Laureate and good poet is best known as the husband of Sylvia Plath at the time of her suicide. He guarded over her literary estate as well, so he controlled what we know of her poetry and other posthumous writings.
Richard Wilbur's was the final of three translations I read and I liked this one the best. It was the most poetic and to me best displayed the classicism Racine is associated with in terms of literary style. Wilbur is a good poet, so I'm not surprised he produced a good translation, although I must admit I have no background in French to judge the true quality of the translation.
It is interesting that both Ted Hughes and Robert Lowell translate this play and Aeschylus' Oresteia. The themes of infidelity, possibly incest, and betrayal are an intriguing subtext.
Czar
The eminent American poet Robert Lowell translates the classic play Phaedra by Racine in rhyming couplets. This form can work for some genres, but even if Racine had couplets in the original, in English, it does not work. It is overly mannered and I found myself going "da,da, da, da" as I read this version. I would have loved to see Lowell do a version in blank verse to see what he could have produced.
Ted Hughes' version is pretty good. It is concise and direct. I wonder if this type of writing is what made Samuel Beckett such a fan of Racine? Of course, Hughes despite being the British Poet Laureate and good poet is best known as the husband of Sylvia Plath at the time of her suicide. He guarded over her literary estate as well, so he controlled what we know of her poetry and other posthumous writings.
Richard Wilbur's was the final of three translations I read and I liked this one the best. It was the most poetic and to me best displayed the classicism Racine is associated with in terms of literary style. Wilbur is a good poet, so I'm not surprised he produced a good translation, although I must admit I have no background in French to judge the true quality of the translation.
It is interesting that both Ted Hughes and Robert Lowell translate this play and Aeschylus' Oresteia. The themes of infidelity, possibly incest, and betrayal are an intriguing subtext.
Czar
A Roman Medea
Not much to this version of the Medea myth from Seneca. The version by Euripides is far superior in every respect. The story line is the same, but there is nothing new that Seneca's version brings to the myth. Moreover, it has none of the power, the raw energy of the Greek version. By comparision, Seneca's Medea is tame and much too civilized to kill her own children. There is some bitterness and resentment, but not the horrific vengeance of the Medea of the myth. It lacks the Dionysian force of the Greek original.
Czar
Czar
An Indian Romeo and Juliet
The play Sakoontala is charming, sweet, and romantic much like Romeo and Juliet. Sakoontala endures much for her husband, but I feel the play develops her character and that of the others well.
I think the scene between the king and his son rings true as they interact as you would expect a father and son to.
The only criticism is the curse involved in the play. It seems arbitrary and forced as a plot device.
Czar
I think the scene between the king and his son rings true as they interact as you would expect a father and son to.
The only criticism is the curse involved in the play. It seems arbitrary and forced as a plot device.
Czar
Medieval Morality Plays
I thought Everyman was fine for what it is, a medieval morality play. It is heavy handed and not terribly dramatic, but this was not its purpose necessarily. I first read it in a high school Humanities class. It compared poorly to Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, and Ibsen's The Wild Duck.
The Second Shepherd's Play is terrible. It is bizarre and poorly constructed. The grafting of the Nativity Play doesn't work either.
Adam, a morality play not included here is even worse. It reeks of anti-Semitism and is unoriginal and formless. The first few scenes are drawn directly from Genesis, probably the point, and the testimony from other prophets doesn't add much to the work.
Maybe these plays achieved their purpose of instructing the faithful, but I' concerned with the dubious nature of the material conveyed.
Czar
The Second Shepherd's Play is terrible. It is bizarre and poorly constructed. The grafting of the Nativity Play doesn't work either.
Adam, a morality play not included here is even worse. It reeks of anti-Semitism and is unoriginal and formless. The first few scenes are drawn directly from Genesis, probably the point, and the testimony from other prophets doesn't add much to the work.
Maybe these plays achieved their purpose of instructing the faithful, but I' concerned with the dubious nature of the material conveyed.
Czar
Japanese Drama
I have read only two plays from the Japanese theatre tradition, but I liked them both. "Abstraction" is very short, but it reminds me of the work of Japanese film directors like Kurosawa and a classic like Rashomon. The nature of identity and truth is slippery in this piece. At the same time, there is definite evidence of classic Japanese virtues like duty, decorum, and masculinity/patriarchy.
The second play I read is one of the Japanese Noh dramas called "Nakamitsu." What a tragic piece. The theme of duty is prevalent and is the source of much of the tragedy and in my case near anger and revulsion at what happens to some of these characters. However the themes of sacrifice, courage, and honors make for a powerful experience.
I think it is important to read works like this that are outside of the more familiar Western theatrical tradition.
Czar
The second play I read is one of the Japanese Noh dramas called "Nakamitsu." What a tragic piece. The theme of duty is prevalent and is the source of much of the tragedy and in my case near anger and revulsion at what happens to some of these characters. However the themes of sacrifice, courage, and honors make for a powerful experience.
I think it is important to read works like this that are outside of the more familiar Western theatrical tradition.
Czar
Young Marlowe
This was my first experience reading Christopher Marlowe. It was amusing to read this play after watching Shakespeare in Love and the scene when all the actors perform the lines about the face that launched a thousand ships.
Marlowe does have some nice lines in Dr. Faustus, but overall I'm not that impressed. I don't see how Marlowe can be considered a possible author of Shakespeare's plays from this work.
To his credit, Marlowe does give a full portrait of Faustus. We see his arrogance and always his fear. In some ways, the play becomes more dramatic as it draws to its end. Faustus himself is the only fully-developed character in my opinion.
This seems like a play of someone whose best work is still to come.
Czar
Marlowe does have some nice lines in Dr. Faustus, but overall I'm not that impressed. I don't see how Marlowe can be considered a possible author of Shakespeare's plays from this work.
To his credit, Marlowe does give a full portrait of Faustus. We see his arrogance and always his fear. In some ways, the play becomes more dramatic as it draws to its end. Faustus himself is the only fully-developed character in my opinion.
This seems like a play of someone whose best work is still to come.
Czar
Marlowe's Jew
Christopher Marlowe's Jew of Malta is a much more developed and mature piece of writing than Dr. Faustus. It is longer and better-written. In addition, there are numerous well-developed characters like Barabas and his daughter Abigail.
However, as you would expect, this play is ripe with anti-Semitism and Barabas is totally unredeemable and his servant is even worse.
The plot is better developed than in Faustus, but I feel the ending is a bit rushed. It still is not of the caliber of The Merchant of Venice, but it stands up well.
Czar
However, as you would expect, this play is ripe with anti-Semitism and Barabas is totally unredeemable and his servant is even worse.
The plot is better developed than in Faustus, but I feel the ending is a bit rushed. It still is not of the caliber of The Merchant of Venice, but it stands up well.
Czar
Jesus in Hiding
Donald Spoto is a former priest and academic who is now best known for writing well-researched and thoughtful biographies of Hollywood stars like Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando.
Spoto writes well and The Hidden Jesus: A New Life is not a book for specialists, though it is informed by Spoto's former career and his training. It would be a good introduction for someone interested in the academic study of Jesus and the field of Christology.
Spoto is a wonderful storyteller and this books flows effortlessly. As a gifted biographer, Spoto has an ear and eye for tone and detail. The "new" material would be Spoto's chapters on ethics and morality. I think Spoto does an excellent job focusing on the human aspect of Jesus. His final chapters are compelling and inspiring. A reverent and hopeful life of Jesus.
Czar
Spoto writes well and The Hidden Jesus: A New Life is not a book for specialists, though it is informed by Spoto's former career and his training. It would be a good introduction for someone interested in the academic study of Jesus and the field of Christology.
Spoto is a wonderful storyteller and this books flows effortlessly. As a gifted biographer, Spoto has an ear and eye for tone and detail. The "new" material would be Spoto's chapters on ethics and morality. I think Spoto does an excellent job focusing on the human aspect of Jesus. His final chapters are compelling and inspiring. A reverent and hopeful life of Jesus.
Czar
How to write a Gospel
The best part of Three Gospels is the preface where Reynolds Price talks about how he came to write his "gospels." I enjoyed his discussion of the literary aspects of this project. Price is conversant with the scholarship on the Gospels, but is never pedantic. His gospels are fine. It is an exercise that makes sense, not that his versions are improvements on the originals. You do see these often familiar stories in a new light.
His own gospel is interesting, but not particularly memorable. This book could be a great teaching tool for a class on the scriptures or even for a more liberal approach to "Bible Study."
Czar
His own gospel is interesting, but not particularly memorable. This book could be a great teaching tool for a class on the scriptures or even for a more liberal approach to "Bible Study."
Czar
The Journey of a King
In my opinion, Ben Jonson pales in comparison to Shakespeare. From the beginning of Henry IV, Part 1, I can see ample evidence of the mastery of Shakespeare as a dramatist. The relationship between Falstaff and Hal, the characterization of Hotspur, the King, and the attendants are just some examples of Shakespeare's talent.
To see Hal go from being a drunken rich boy to a man beginning to find his way and assert his will as he comes to term with his destiny is so well-done and believable.
He's not there yet, but you see glimpses of him as a King.
Czar
To see Hal go from being a drunken rich boy to a man beginning to find his way and assert his will as he comes to term with his destiny is so well-done and believable.
He's not there yet, but you see glimpses of him as a King.
Czar
A Journalist's account of Yeshua (Jesus)
If I could rate a book a 0, this would be the one. The Gospel of Yeshua: A Fresh Look at the Life and Teaching of Jesus is certainly not a critical study of Jesus, which is fine, but I find little that is "Fresh" that is also not just goofy, if not absurd.
Johnson claims that Jesus went to other countries to learn about other faiths, but has no evidence or citations to back up this assertion. He claims that Jesus would not use his miraculous powers to give people material comfort, but what would you call the "miracle of the loaves"? In typically Protestant fashion, he downplays or denies "The Anunciation" and the prominence given to Mary in The Gospel of Luke.
He also keeps the bias about Jesus being all about Love and not beginning caught up in the Law, though Jesus does say that he is the fulfillment of the Law too.
I'm not sure his method of combining the Gospel accounts and adding his own works, but footnotes or some idea how he came up with these accounts would be nice.
Johnson has Jesus as a practitioner of Eastern meditation, but again there is no clear idea where this comes from!
Don't waste your time with this book, there are many, nearly any other "biography" of Jesus that would be better than this one.
Czar
Johnson claims that Jesus went to other countries to learn about other faiths, but has no evidence or citations to back up this assertion. He claims that Jesus would not use his miraculous powers to give people material comfort, but what would you call the "miracle of the loaves"? In typically Protestant fashion, he downplays or denies "The Anunciation" and the prominence given to Mary in The Gospel of Luke.
He also keeps the bias about Jesus being all about Love and not beginning caught up in the Law, though Jesus does say that he is the fulfillment of the Law too.
I'm not sure his method of combining the Gospel accounts and adding his own works, but footnotes or some idea how he came up with these accounts would be nice.
Johnson has Jesus as a practitioner of Eastern meditation, but again there is no clear idea where this comes from!
Don't waste your time with this book, there are many, nearly any other "biography" of Jesus that would be better than this one.
Czar
A Biography of Jesus
Wilson is a good and well-respected biographer who has written other biographies of writers who have religious themes in their writings, namely C.S. Lewis and Leo Tolstoy. Jesus: A Life is a balanced look at the life of Jesus, especially for someone who is no longer a believing Christian. However, his main argument that Jesus is basically too Jewish to have been the Messiah is not particular original.
Wilson relies quite heavily on the work of the Jewish scholar, Geza Vermes.
Still Wilson is admirably sensitive to Christianity and Christians. Unlike John Dominic Crossan, he actually gives the benefit of the doubt to believers and allows for some veracity of the Christian mythos.
There are some specific issues that I think Wilson does not fully consider or develop.
If the Jewish followers of Jesus were "blasphemous", why is it hard to believe that they may have been harassed by the Jewish religious leaders?
Wilson asserts that the belief of the earliest Christians were different from later credal formulations, but he doesn't really back this up. Documents like the Didache show a remarkable similarity to documents like the Nicene Creed.
Wilson discounts the "agony in the garden" by appealing to Jesus' divinity? So why can't Wilson wrap his head around a fully human Jesus? I'm sure there is some ancient heresy that this falls under.
Even though Wilson has a background in Classics, he claims that any phrase or portion of the New Testament that cannot be translated back into Aramaic is probably not authentic? This is an odd standard and one that he needed to defend better.
He makes a rather thin claim about Jesus' belief in astrology because of Qumran, but doesn't definitively tie Jesus to the Qumran community or to astrology.
Wilson claims, as many do, that Jesus is not the founder of the Christian Church, but he also doesn't explain away the Petrine commission, the role of early disciples in first century controversies, and other similar scriptural passages.
He also seems to prefer John's Gospel to the Synoptics, but doesn't give any reason why this is so. I know this isn't a scholarly work necessarily, but I think that is a cop-out.
Wilson unnecessarily ties the institution of the Eucharist to the Church itself. Why? What about Jesus' ministry to the Gentiles, mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels that preceded John too. I also dont' but that Jesus didn't institute the Eucharist because he knew that he was going to be arrested.
Doesn't it make sense that if you were going to institute a New Kingdom and usher in the "reign of God" that this would be a good time to do so? How fitting a memorial this would be.
Wilson claims that there is no account of Jesus' crime, but fails to mention that both Josephus and Tacitus make reference to Jesus' death as a criminal as do the Gospels.
Finally, Wilson claims that Jesus was no a theologian, but there are various examples (the parables, Sermon on the Mount, debates with the religious authorities, where Jesus seems to be a quite able practitioner of theology and a sound religious teacher.
Czar
Wilson relies quite heavily on the work of the Jewish scholar, Geza Vermes.
Still Wilson is admirably sensitive to Christianity and Christians. Unlike John Dominic Crossan, he actually gives the benefit of the doubt to believers and allows for some veracity of the Christian mythos.
There are some specific issues that I think Wilson does not fully consider or develop.
If the Jewish followers of Jesus were "blasphemous", why is it hard to believe that they may have been harassed by the Jewish religious leaders?
Wilson asserts that the belief of the earliest Christians were different from later credal formulations, but he doesn't really back this up. Documents like the Didache show a remarkable similarity to documents like the Nicene Creed.
Wilson discounts the "agony in the garden" by appealing to Jesus' divinity? So why can't Wilson wrap his head around a fully human Jesus? I'm sure there is some ancient heresy that this falls under.
Even though Wilson has a background in Classics, he claims that any phrase or portion of the New Testament that cannot be translated back into Aramaic is probably not authentic? This is an odd standard and one that he needed to defend better.
He makes a rather thin claim about Jesus' belief in astrology because of Qumran, but doesn't definitively tie Jesus to the Qumran community or to astrology.
Wilson claims, as many do, that Jesus is not the founder of the Christian Church, but he also doesn't explain away the Petrine commission, the role of early disciples in first century controversies, and other similar scriptural passages.
He also seems to prefer John's Gospel to the Synoptics, but doesn't give any reason why this is so. I know this isn't a scholarly work necessarily, but I think that is a cop-out.
Wilson unnecessarily ties the institution of the Eucharist to the Church itself. Why? What about Jesus' ministry to the Gentiles, mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels that preceded John too. I also dont' but that Jesus didn't institute the Eucharist because he knew that he was going to be arrested.
Doesn't it make sense that if you were going to institute a New Kingdom and usher in the "reign of God" that this would be a good time to do so? How fitting a memorial this would be.
Wilson claims that there is no account of Jesus' crime, but fails to mention that both Josephus and Tacitus make reference to Jesus' death as a criminal as do the Gospels.
Finally, Wilson claims that Jesus was no a theologian, but there are various examples (the parables, Sermon on the Mount, debates with the religious authorities, where Jesus seems to be a quite able practitioner of theology and a sound religious teacher.
Czar
Belief and Skepticism
I have read the first edition, so I don't know what might have changed between editions. Shermer is the director of the Skeptic Society so it is not difficult to imagine his stance regarding belief and religion. Still, Shermer is obviously well-educated and makes a good case for his agnostic position.
However, I would have liked for Shermer to engage Catholicism more and better. He was a born-again Christian who lost his faith. This has resulted in what I see as a certain hostility, if not, patronizing attitude towards born-again and Evangelical Christians. He does seem to like the Pope (John Paul II) however.
Shermer is quite selective in his consideration of scientists who profess religious beliefs. He does not once mention individuals like Ian Barbour, Stanley Jaki, Arthur Peacocke and most especially John Polkinghorne.
He trots out the usual suspects like Hawking, Dawkins, and Gould to help make his case. Overall, I do thnk that he makes a good argument for the difference between science and faith. This is a reasoned account that does take belief seriously.
Like fellow skeptics/atheists, Shermer overstates the hegemony of science. He claims that science has proved all phenomena by natural law, but what do we make of the fact that Quantum Physics has supplanted Newtonian Physics? Models and paradigms change, so science is not absolute nor infallible.
Curious that Shermer refuses to even consider "near-death experiences" as there is a substantial body of literature on these phenomena.
I don't think Shermer's arguments regarding design and how we see design in nature as being particularly strong. The same goes for his attempt to explain away mystical experiences as "temporal lobe" seizures and aberrant brain physiology.
Likewise, the whole "multiverse" idea runs headstrong into Occam's Razor, which seems to be a standard embraced by Shermer in most contexts.
I don't understand why he critiques so many other scientists, but does not offer the slightest critique of someone like Hawking. Plenty of critiques are out there.
His chapter on Ghost Dances and the Messiah Myth is unconvincing. This is the comparative religion, cultural anthropology argument: If many cultures have a messiah myth, than all messiah myths are just myths. The other argument that Shermer neglects to make is: perhaps these various myths point to a "truth" that is beyond science?
His chapter on Gould and glorious contingency seems to me like Gould's attempt to bring the anthropic principle back into play. It reminds me of process theology, what I've read of it, in that God continues to be involved in the process of the universe.
A good book, but not as good as Shermer thinks it is.
However, I would have liked for Shermer to engage Catholicism more and better. He was a born-again Christian who lost his faith. This has resulted in what I see as a certain hostility, if not, patronizing attitude towards born-again and Evangelical Christians. He does seem to like the Pope (John Paul II) however.
Shermer is quite selective in his consideration of scientists who profess religious beliefs. He does not once mention individuals like Ian Barbour, Stanley Jaki, Arthur Peacocke and most especially John Polkinghorne.
He trots out the usual suspects like Hawking, Dawkins, and Gould to help make his case. Overall, I do thnk that he makes a good argument for the difference between science and faith. This is a reasoned account that does take belief seriously.
Like fellow skeptics/atheists, Shermer overstates the hegemony of science. He claims that science has proved all phenomena by natural law, but what do we make of the fact that Quantum Physics has supplanted Newtonian Physics? Models and paradigms change, so science is not absolute nor infallible.
Curious that Shermer refuses to even consider "near-death experiences" as there is a substantial body of literature on these phenomena.
I don't think Shermer's arguments regarding design and how we see design in nature as being particularly strong. The same goes for his attempt to explain away mystical experiences as "temporal lobe" seizures and aberrant brain physiology.
Likewise, the whole "multiverse" idea runs headstrong into Occam's Razor, which seems to be a standard embraced by Shermer in most contexts.
I don't understand why he critiques so many other scientists, but does not offer the slightest critique of someone like Hawking. Plenty of critiques are out there.
His chapter on Ghost Dances and the Messiah Myth is unconvincing. This is the comparative religion, cultural anthropology argument: If many cultures have a messiah myth, than all messiah myths are just myths. The other argument that Shermer neglects to make is: perhaps these various myths point to a "truth" that is beyond science?
His chapter on Gould and glorious contingency seems to me like Gould's attempt to bring the anthropic principle back into play. It reminds me of process theology, what I've read of it, in that God continues to be involved in the process of the universe.
A good book, but not as good as Shermer thinks it is.
Dante and Hannibal Lecter
I read Hannibal after having seen the movie. Harris is a good writer. He really seems to be comfortable with Florence and the Italian literature and culture of Dante's era. His incorporation of Dante's poem from La Vita Nuova into the action of Hannibal Lecter's life is eerie, but plausible. I don't think most people would read Dante's lines the way that Harris does, however Lecter is not supposed to be "normal." Here's an English translation of the poem that figures in the film:
"I write this piece of poetry for any soul taken by love and any noble heart,
so that they may write me back their opinion about it. I greets our lord, that is Love.
Love itself appeared suddenly to me when one third of the night had already passed.
If I think back about it I’m frightened.
Love seemed cheerful while bringing in its arms a sleeping woman wrapped in a cloth and in its hands my heart.
Love then woke her up and she ate this burning heart; it then went away crying."
Given Lecter's appetites you can imagine how he interprets this poem.
Mason Verger and his sister are much richer than they are in the film. I wonder why the director left his sister out? I also like Barney's role in the book. Clarice is pretty much the same as the film, except for the ending.
I'm not narratively convinced that Clarice would make the decision she does. Still Hannibal is a well-written and engaging novel.
"I write this piece of poetry for any soul taken by love and any noble heart,
so that they may write me back their opinion about it. I greets our lord, that is Love.
Love itself appeared suddenly to me when one third of the night had already passed.
If I think back about it I’m frightened.
Love seemed cheerful while bringing in its arms a sleeping woman wrapped in a cloth and in its hands my heart.
Love then woke her up and she ate this burning heart; it then went away crying."
Given Lecter's appetites you can imagine how he interprets this poem.
Mason Verger and his sister are much richer than they are in the film. I wonder why the director left his sister out? I also like Barney's role in the book. Clarice is pretty much the same as the film, except for the ending.
I'm not narratively convinced that Clarice would make the decision she does. Still Hannibal is a well-written and engaging novel.
The Last Gentleman
There is something about Walker Percy's work that lingers with you after you have finished reading it. I think part of it is the lack of true resolution in his novels. I suppose this is related to Percy's view of humans as wayfarers. Our journeys last our whole lives. It springs from the characters and ambiance that he creates.
I cannot recall much plot detail in his first novel, The Moviegoer, but I have never forgotten about his concept of "everydayness." It still haunts me. Similarly, from The Thanatos Syndrome, his last novel, I remember the character of Father Smith, the idea of women "presenting rearward" in this novel, and Percy's discussion of the Weimar Republic and the ideas of eugenics and abortion that were popular in German society prior to Nazism.
With The Last Gentleman, there are Will Barrett's "fugues", Sutter, Jamie, Val, and Kitty. Each of these characters is well-defined. The ideas are there too, but I think a reader would appreciate the novels without being an expert on the writings and beliefs of Soren Kierkegaard.
I found myself wanting to find the resolution of Will and Kitty's relationship. The specter of suicide hangs over this novel. Will Sutter kill himself? What about all of his "practice attempts." I know that Percy is heavily influenced by French Existentialism, but I wonder if the suicide of Percy's father is not at play too. After reading this book, I want to skip to the second Will Barrett book, but I'll probably try to go in order and maybe even tackle some of his semiotic writings too.
Czar
I cannot recall much plot detail in his first novel, The Moviegoer, but I have never forgotten about his concept of "everydayness." It still haunts me. Similarly, from The Thanatos Syndrome, his last novel, I remember the character of Father Smith, the idea of women "presenting rearward" in this novel, and Percy's discussion of the Weimar Republic and the ideas of eugenics and abortion that were popular in German society prior to Nazism.
With The Last Gentleman, there are Will Barrett's "fugues", Sutter, Jamie, Val, and Kitty. Each of these characters is well-defined. The ideas are there too, but I think a reader would appreciate the novels without being an expert on the writings and beliefs of Soren Kierkegaard.
I found myself wanting to find the resolution of Will and Kitty's relationship. The specter of suicide hangs over this novel. Will Sutter kill himself? What about all of his "practice attempts." I know that Percy is heavily influenced by French Existentialism, but I wonder if the suicide of Percy's father is not at play too. After reading this book, I want to skip to the second Will Barrett book, but I'll probably try to go in order and maybe even tackle some of his semiotic writings too.
Czar
Power corrupts
In a previous post, I mentioned my enthusiasm for Robert Caro's work on LBJ. It was supposed to have been a three-volume project, but when Caro researched Johnson's successful 1948 campaign for the U.S. Senate, he felt compelled to devote an entire volume to this campaign, which Johnson stole according to Caro. Perish the thought of a corrupt election in Texas! Caro also makes a concerted effort to turn Johnson's opponent Coke Stevenson into some kind of Texas frontier version of Thomas Jefferson. In Means of Ascent, Caro focuses considerable attention on this campaign victory by a mere 87 votes. Other major characters besides Johnson and Stevenson are Hugo Black, who was later appointed to the Supreme Court.
Many historians and scholars vehemently contest the glowing portrait of Stevenson, who apparently was a firm segregationist among other things. I must confess that in the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election, I found myself going back to this volume which had a similarly contested electoral count that, much like the Bush v. Gore case, was suspended at the 11th hour. Though it is not something that I relish, the truth of the matter is that elections were and continue to be stolen in politics. No matter how sophisticated the electoral machinery becomes, if someone wants to steal an election, it can be stolen.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (yes RFK's son) has written several accounts of how 2004 was stolen by Bush for Rolling Stone for those of you interested.
As for this book by Caro, it has all of the strengths of the first volume, vivid characterization, broad strokes for the historical context, and painstaking research. However, to devote an entire 600 pages to one Senate election is a bit much.
Czar
Many historians and scholars vehemently contest the glowing portrait of Stevenson, who apparently was a firm segregationist among other things. I must confess that in the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election, I found myself going back to this volume which had a similarly contested electoral count that, much like the Bush v. Gore case, was suspended at the 11th hour. Though it is not something that I relish, the truth of the matter is that elections were and continue to be stolen in politics. No matter how sophisticated the electoral machinery becomes, if someone wants to steal an election, it can be stolen.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (yes RFK's son) has written several accounts of how 2004 was stolen by Bush for Rolling Stone for those of you interested.
As for this book by Caro, it has all of the strengths of the first volume, vivid characterization, broad strokes for the historical context, and painstaking research. However, to devote an entire 600 pages to one Senate election is a bit much.
Czar
LBJ in living color
I first encountered Robert Caro's The Years of Lyndon Johnson biography of LBJ as a Book-of-the-Month Club main selection sometime back in the early 1980s when I was still in high school. I was a bit intimidated by the first offering, The Path to Power which weighed in at around 1000 pages with notes. Still, I dived into it and was definitely rewarded for the effort. I have yet to read another book about any historical figure with the historical depth, panoramic sweep, and narrative skill of Caro's first volume on LBJ. I was captivated and felt that I could almost feel and smell the Texas Hill Country that formed Lyndon Johnson. I know the word "magisterial" is thrown around far too easily with biographies and histories, but this is truly a magisterial work and is only one of a proposed three-volume (now four volume) biography of LBJ.
Caro began his career as a journalist and so his writing is very accessible and is not academic. Having said that, later historians (notably Robert Dallek, author of a two-volume LBJ bio of his own) slam Caro for his lack of objectivity, which Caro addresses. Caro began this project as a LBJ fan, but has grown to dislike the man in the nearly forty years he has spent on this man. Volume 1 is pretty balanced, but this is a warts and all biography. This volume closes in 1941 after Johnson has been elected to the House of Representatives and becomes an adoring protege of the legendary Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn.
If you want to read a riveting political biography, I could not recommend this volume highly enough.
Czar
Caro began his career as a journalist and so his writing is very accessible and is not academic. Having said that, later historians (notably Robert Dallek, author of a two-volume LBJ bio of his own) slam Caro for his lack of objectivity, which Caro addresses. Caro began this project as a LBJ fan, but has grown to dislike the man in the nearly forty years he has spent on this man. Volume 1 is pretty balanced, but this is a warts and all biography. This volume closes in 1941 after Johnson has been elected to the House of Representatives and becomes an adoring protege of the legendary Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn.
If you want to read a riveting political biography, I could not recommend this volume highly enough.
Czar
Very Little Indeed
Don't believe the hype about this novel, Vernon God Little. I read it because the novel had been awarded the Booker Prize in 2003. However, I often wonder if the British and other Europeans don't favor novels that place Americans in a bad light. The author D.B.C. Pierre indulges in the worst sort of stereotypes about rednecks in Texas. Latinos and Mexico play a large role in the novel too, but Pierre is no better with these characters than he is with the "Anglos" in this work.
The protagonist Vernon Little is an adolescent supposedly cut in the mold of Holden Caufield, but he's nowhere as interesting or sophisticated as Caufield nor is Pierre anything like Salinger. Little has a most limited vocabulary too. He just cusses the whole time, which is not a problem but it is annoying when that is all the character is capable of. I wonder if Pierre thinks this is what Americans are like, especially American teens. Pierre is not much better at trying to accurately render Latinos on the Tex-Mex border or what Mexican citizens are like too. The supposed love interest is not handled much better and there is a definite undercurrent of misogyny too. All in all a disappointing read.
Czar
The protagonist Vernon Little is an adolescent supposedly cut in the mold of Holden Caufield, but he's nowhere as interesting or sophisticated as Caufield nor is Pierre anything like Salinger. Little has a most limited vocabulary too. He just cusses the whole time, which is not a problem but it is annoying when that is all the character is capable of. I wonder if Pierre thinks this is what Americans are like, especially American teens. Pierre is not much better at trying to accurately render Latinos on the Tex-Mex border or what Mexican citizens are like too. The supposed love interest is not handled much better and there is a definite undercurrent of misogyny too. All in all a disappointing read.
Czar
Where's the Humour?
I'd heard that Ben Jonson was supposed to be a better poet than dramatist, but I'm not seeing much of either in Every Man in His Humour. Jonson has some good lines, but nothing really sustained. I found this play to be tedious. Perhaps it is better on stage, but I really don't see much "charm" in this comedy of manners. It took me several attempts to get through this play. I'm not all that impressed with Jonson as a playwright.
Killing with Kindness
I read A Woman Killed with Kindness by Thomas Heywood in an anthology of plays, but what a tremendous work. I am definitely a romantic and somewhat of a sucker for works like this, but I could not put the play down.
It is a gorgeous play full of pathos with sublime poetry. It reminds me of Shakespeare's best work and of Alcestis by Euripides. The subtext with Sir Acton is okay, but I don't know that I buy the love at first sight scenario. This may be my 21st century bias showing.
However, the main theme of the Frankfords is so lovely and tragic. The sheer depth of Mistress Frankford's guilt is astonishing. The idea of killing oneself for shame, while quaint or zealous, is so right in the action of the play. This is love in all of its power and glory. Not the Hallmark love, but the ancient Greek love from Hesiod, who wrote about the dark power of Eros. The deathbed scene is beautiful. I really love this play!
Naturally, I am only responding to the literary aspect of this play as for most of the plays I'll read and review I have not seen them performed.
It is a gorgeous play full of pathos with sublime poetry. It reminds me of Shakespeare's best work and of Alcestis by Euripides. The subtext with Sir Acton is okay, but I don't know that I buy the love at first sight scenario. This may be my 21st century bias showing.
However, the main theme of the Frankfords is so lovely and tragic. The sheer depth of Mistress Frankford's guilt is astonishing. The idea of killing oneself for shame, while quaint or zealous, is so right in the action of the play. This is love in all of its power and glory. Not the Hallmark love, but the ancient Greek love from Hesiod, who wrote about the dark power of Eros. The deathbed scene is beautiful. I really love this play!
Naturally, I am only responding to the literary aspect of this play as for most of the plays I'll read and review I have not seen them performed.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Lesser than Zero
I suppose it is my contrarian nature, but I have always had books that I resisted reading because my friends and classmates raved about them so much. Catcher in the Rye, Kurt Vonnegut books, Bright Lights, Big City, On the Road, A Million Little Pieces, David Eggers, Infinite Jest, and Less than Zero.
Well, I eventually broke down and read Catcher, On the Road, and Less than Zero. As Meatloaf once said, "Two out of three ain't bad." What is bad is Less than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis. I could have done without the first 160 pages or so. If you like novels about ennui and rich, spoiled, nihilistic twenty-somethings, this is the book for you. Honestly, I'm not even sure "nihilistic" is an accurate term, because that implies that you have some type of intellect and a passing interest in philosophy. If Camus' question about suicide is a starting point for Ellis' novel,"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy", than the characters that populate Ellis' novel are a cross between Camus' Meursault and Beavis and Butthead. If Ellis and the characters don't care about their own lives, than why should I as a reader?
There are literally hundreds of pages of random dialogue that shows only that Ellis seems to be a fan of Hemingway's prose style. Now to be fair to Hemingway, he knew how to create a narrative momentum that is entirely missing from Less than Zero.
I don't know if the teachers that Ellis had at Bennington College encouraged this style of writing, but it took a real effort to finish this book. There is some talent in places, but I cannot believe the blurbs on the back cover of the edition I read. If these reviewers really meant those words, I think they were as coked up as the characters this book.
The last 50 pages or so are by far the best and here is where I can see some of the talent and promise all the reviewers wrote about. However, I don't know that this is enough to redeem the book overall.
I know this isn't an original quote, but books like Ellis', Frey's, et. al. are part of what I like to call "The Unbearable Whiteness of Being."
Ugh!
Czar
Well, I eventually broke down and read Catcher, On the Road, and Less than Zero. As Meatloaf once said, "Two out of three ain't bad." What is bad is Less than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis. I could have done without the first 160 pages or so. If you like novels about ennui and rich, spoiled, nihilistic twenty-somethings, this is the book for you. Honestly, I'm not even sure "nihilistic" is an accurate term, because that implies that you have some type of intellect and a passing interest in philosophy. If Camus' question about suicide is a starting point for Ellis' novel,"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy", than the characters that populate Ellis' novel are a cross between Camus' Meursault and Beavis and Butthead. If Ellis and the characters don't care about their own lives, than why should I as a reader?
There are literally hundreds of pages of random dialogue that shows only that Ellis seems to be a fan of Hemingway's prose style. Now to be fair to Hemingway, he knew how to create a narrative momentum that is entirely missing from Less than Zero.
I don't know if the teachers that Ellis had at Bennington College encouraged this style of writing, but it took a real effort to finish this book. There is some talent in places, but I cannot believe the blurbs on the back cover of the edition I read. If these reviewers really meant those words, I think they were as coked up as the characters this book.
The last 50 pages or so are by far the best and here is where I can see some of the talent and promise all the reviewers wrote about. However, I don't know that this is enough to redeem the book overall.
I know this isn't an original quote, but books like Ellis', Frey's, et. al. are part of what I like to call "The Unbearable Whiteness of Being."
Ugh!
Czar
Why We Exist
When I saw the title to this article on Yahoo, I definitely found myself intrigued. "Why We Exist: Matter over Antimatter."
Honestly who wouldn't want to know the "Why" of existence? However, as I often find when I read scientists, especially physicists and cosmologists, there is a certain amount of presumption or arrogance regarding their work. Now this particular piece doesn't contain that sentiment and as someone who doesn't get to title his own columns, I am confident that this is not something these scientists felt they had discovered. Nevertheless, the article is about "How" we exist, not "Why" we exist.
I've posted the URL if any of you want to check it out.
Sincerely,
Czar
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100518/sc_space/whyweexistmatterwinsbattleoverantimatter
Honestly who wouldn't want to know the "Why" of existence? However, as I often find when I read scientists, especially physicists and cosmologists, there is a certain amount of presumption or arrogance regarding their work. Now this particular piece doesn't contain that sentiment and as someone who doesn't get to title his own columns, I am confident that this is not something these scientists felt they had discovered. Nevertheless, the article is about "How" we exist, not "Why" we exist.
I've posted the URL if any of you want to check it out.
Sincerely,
Czar
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100518/sc_space/whyweexistmatterwinsbattleoverantimatter
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Welcome to Biblio Files
Dear Bookloving Friends,
Welcome to my blog. I will confess that I am a virgin blogger, so be gentle with me. I will not guarantee regular posting, but I am going to try my best. I am a busy man with professional and familial duties, but I am an obsessive reader too. Not just books, but magazines, and increasingly webpages and other blogs too. I will try to post when a particular book, article, poem, hits me.
Though I hope to reserve the majority of this blog for more traditional texts, I will occasionally post about some of my favorite TV shows, films, and music as the spirit hits me. You should almost certainly expect posts about Lost and 24, two of my longtime favorites.
About chronology, as some one who until this past year subscribed to far too many magazines and journals, I will post about articles and reviews from said journals that might be several years old, because I feel that there might be something of value in these pieces, so this is my preemptive apology or apologia, if you will.
Sincerely,
Your Benevolent Book Czar
Welcome to my blog. I will confess that I am a virgin blogger, so be gentle with me. I will not guarantee regular posting, but I am going to try my best. I am a busy man with professional and familial duties, but I am an obsessive reader too. Not just books, but magazines, and increasingly webpages and other blogs too. I will try to post when a particular book, article, poem, hits me.
Though I hope to reserve the majority of this blog for more traditional texts, I will occasionally post about some of my favorite TV shows, films, and music as the spirit hits me. You should almost certainly expect posts about Lost and 24, two of my longtime favorites.
About chronology, as some one who until this past year subscribed to far too many magazines and journals, I will post about articles and reviews from said journals that might be several years old, because I feel that there might be something of value in these pieces, so this is my preemptive apology or apologia, if you will.
Sincerely,
Your Benevolent Book Czar
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