Barbara Hurd: from "Refugium," Pt. 2

"Those who are fond of retreats--writers, ecstatics, parents with young children--often comment on the silence such time away allows.  Silence becomes something present, almost palpable.  The task shifts from keeping the world at a safe decibel distance to letting more of the world in.  Thomas Aquinas said that beauty arrests motion.  He meant, I think, that in the presence of something gorgeous or sublime, we stop our nervous natterings, our foot twitchings and restless tongues.  Whatever that fretful hunger is, it seems momentarily filled in the presence of beauty.  To Aquinas's wisdom I'd add that silence arrests flight, that in its refuge' the need to flee the chaos of noise diminishes.  We let the world creep closer, we drop to our knees, as if to let the heart, like a small animal, get its legs on the ground."

-- Barbara Hurd --
from "Refugium"
Summer: A Spiritual Autobiography of the Season

Silence is rapidly becoming eligible of being listed as an endangered species today.  Everything seems to ring or ding or whistle at us.  It's impossible to get away from the siren calls of mobile phones, and I don't even have one.  It's getting harder and harder to walk through a parking lot without having some vehicle warning us to back off, or else.  Restaurants now seem to be designed to magnify noise, forcing patrons to shout at someone sitting across the table, just a few feet away.

But what's truly frightening is that I know people who don't like to leave the city because it's too quiet out there.  Isaac Asimov wrote a novel, Caves of Steel, in which people now lived in huge cities that were covered over.  They never saw the sky,  All lighting was artificial.  As a consequence the population was agoraphobic, afraid to enter a large open space.  Are we becoming afraid of silence today?  Are we becoming afraid of being alone with only our own thoughts and nothing to distract us? 

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain LXII

This is the fourth in a series of linked quatrains that plays with the idea of the Potter/Creator and its creations.  Once again, its creations, the Pots (humans?) try to make sense of their situation, and once again, attempt to rationalize their future.



First Edition: Quatrain LXII

Another said--"Why, ne'er a peevish Boy,
Would break the Bowl from which he drank in Joy;
    Shall He that made the Vessel in pure Love
And Fancy, in an after Rage destroy!"



Second Edition:  Quatrain XCII

Another said--"Why, ne'er a peevish Boy
Would break the Cup from which he drank in Joy;
    Shall He that of His own free Fancy made
The Vessel, in an after-rage destroy!"


Fifth Edition:  Quatrain LXXXV 

Then said a Second--"Ne'er a peevish Boy
Would break the Bowl from which he drank in joy,
    And He that with his hand the Vessel made
Will surely not in after Wrath destroy!"


FitzGerald has made several changes as usual, but none that might be considered significant.  He made no changes in the first line of either the first or second editions,  but in the fifth edition, "Another said" becomes "Then said a Second," and "Why, ne'er a peevish Boy" is changed slightly when he drops the "Why."  The "Why"  seems to be used as an intensifier there which strengthens the claim about the peevish Boy in the first and second editions, but also adds a questioning element to the claim.   In the fifth addition, it becomes a simple direct statement that a peevish boy wouldn't destroy the Bowl.

In the second line, "Bowl" in the first edition becomes "Cup" in the second version, but reverts back to Bowl in the fifth edition..


The third and fourth lines display the most changes:

First edition
  Shall He that made the Vessel in pure Love
And Fancy, in an after Rage destroy!"

Second edition:
  Shall He that of His own free Fancy made
The Vessel, in an after-rage destroy!"

Fifth edition:
  And He that with his hand the Vessel made
Will surely not in after Wrath destroy!"


The idea doesn't change through all three versions:  the Potter will not destroy something he made.  The first and second editions, though, appear to be a question, but the final punctuation mark is an exclamation point, not a question mark.  The fifth edition, however, appears to be a direct statement or a reassuring statement to be precise.

This quatrain like several previous ones is an attempt to rationalize away the teachings of both the Islamic and Christian traditions that predict a dire future for many--eternal punishment in hell for wrongdoers.  By using a weak analogy, the pots reassure themselves (or attempt to anyway) that a merciful and compassionate Creator would not condemn its creations to the eternal fires of hell.  The pot says that even a peevish Boy wouldn't destroy something he created, yet the very definition of "peevish" is "discontented, ill-natured, contrary."  Destroying the pot is just something contrary that a peevish boy would do.     

This relates back to earlier quatrains in which the Poet Narrator spells out very clearly that in spite of the teachings of saints, sages, and theologians, we really know nothing about where we came from and where we are going.  Now we are given the optimistic hopes of empty Pots about their fates.   What is especially ironic is that philosophers and theologians have stated repeatedly over the centuries that the mind of God is so far beyond the comprehension of humankind that it is impossible for us to understand the actions of God or its reasons for its actions.  As William Cowper tells us--

"God moves in mysterious ways
His wonders to perform
He plants his footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm."


Yet, everyday, if not every hour, we are bombarded by those who claim to know the mind of God.


It is this that I think is the point of this linked series of quatrains.  The Poet is restating points made earlier, that we don't know what is to be our fate.  I read recently that several institutions have received grants to scientifically study the issue--is there an afterlife?  It should be interesting to read their conclusions in a few years.

Barbara Hurd: from "Refugium," Pt 1

Barbara Hurd has some interesting thoughts on retreats or refuges, a place to get away from it all so that we can get a better look at ourselves and the world around us, free from noise or distractions. Some retreats last only a short time: a few hours perhaps, while others may go on for a weekend or even a week or two. Sometimes though, a retreat may go on indefinitely.  Michael is a friend of hers who is busy "dismantling his identity as a artist living by the edge of a swamp."

"We talk for hours on the boardwalk at Cranesville.  Michael isn't going into hiding; he's retreating from a path that wasn't headed toward what, for him, is being fully human.  He's not sure what that means except a  quiet letting go, a deliberate choice to go toward some kind of refuge that nourishes his spirit.  All the great spiritual leaders have done it,  from Buddha to Christ to Gandhi.  They've withdrawn for a few days or weeks to sit in caves and under trees, to wander in deserts, alone, packing as little as possible into their knapsacks.  They're after, I think, some moments of trackless quiet, a chance to blur the footprints, the sense of having been someplace, of having someplace to get to.  A chance to see what happens when the past and the future stop tugging on the leads and the present opens like a well."

-- Barbara Hurd --
"Refugium"
from Summer: A Spiritual Biography of the Season



"A chance to see what happens when the past and the future stop tugging on the leads and the present opens like a well."

This is a central theme in many Eastern traditions, including Buddhism and Taoism.  We should avoid the trap of living in the past or living for the future, and instead, concentrate on living in the present, the Now.  We should focus on what we are doing now and on what is going on around us Now.


"Trust no future, however pleasant!
 Let the dead past bury its dead!
 Act, - act in the living Present!

-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow --
from "A Psalm of Life"

15 Favorite TV Mysteries and Detective Shows

I like to read various lists, but I seldom do one of my own.  I think this is only the third or fourth one that I've published here in the four years or so that I've been posting here.   This one is inspired by Yvette over at In So Many Words who put up her list a week or so ago.  You should check out her list to get a different view of the subject.  She also has a number of lists posted.

While the list is in no particular order, the ones at the top of the list are the ones I enjoyed the most and will be the first ones I will do a second time around.



1. Chief Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh 
Commander Dalgliesh in the later episodes
London, Scotland Yard, UK
Police procedural

The series is based on the novels written by P: D. James

I'm including only the episodes with Roy Marsden as Adam Dalgliesch.  Martin Shaw is a fine actor (I enjoyed him in the role of Chief Inspector George Gentley), but he really isn't convincing as Dalgliesh. I'm now watching and enjoying the Marsden episodes for the second time.



2. Inspector Morse
Oxford, UK
Police procedural
Inspector Morse was played by John Thaw, and I doubt that they would ever put someone else in the role, at least for a decade or so.

Some of the episodes were based on the novels by Colin Dexter, but most were based on "characters created by Colin Dexter."

This series is unique in that it has two spinoffs, something which few other shows can boast of.  The first is the Inspector Lewis series.  Inspector Lewis is, of course,  Morse's assistant who's been promoted to Inspector.  Kevin Whately is Lewis in both series.  I have been watching the series and found them enjoyable.  However the most recent episodes have really been superb, and perhaps they have finally  discovered just what it is they are doing.  If the following episodes are as good as the most recent ones, I may include them in an expanded list of 20 shows.

The second spinoff is Endeavour, in which we see Morse as he first joined the Oxford Police.  It originally was to be a one-time only production, but I have recently read that there will be another four shows in the coming year.  I haven't seen it yet, so I can't comment on it.  That the powers-that-be have decided to go for another four shows, though, suggests that the show did well in the ratings.

This show is also on my "must re-watch" list.



3. Foyle's War 
Chief Inspector Christopher Foyle
SE Coast UK
Police procedural
Michael Kitchen played the role of  Inspector Foyle who regularly applies for a military appointment  but is always rejected on the grounds he is needed where he is.

This superb series is set during WWII and has the events of the war as background.  The show followed the chronology of the war and featured the effects of the war on the home population both as background and frequently as a cause of the crimes Foyle is faced with.   The last episodes occurred shortly after the war ended and dealt with post-war problems at that time.  I fear those were the last shows.

I have already watched the shows twice and will watch it again.  It really is that good.



4. Miss Marple Mysteries
UK
Talented amateur
Based on the novels by Agatha Christie
Joan Hickson episodes only

I have seen several of the episodes featuring other actresses and also some of the early films made prior to the series with Joan Hickson and feel none can come close to Hickson's portrayal.  I have also read all of the novels and many of the short stories, and nobody else even comes close to Hickson's portrayal of  Christie's Miss Marple.  Agatha Christie, at one time, saw Joan Hickson in another production and told her that she hoped to see Hickson play Miss Marple some time.

I have viewed the series twice and will watch them again, some time in the future.



5. Sherlock Holmes
UK
Paid professional
Best Sherlock Holmes--Jeremy Brett
Best Dr. Watson--Michael Hardwicke

Basil Rathbone also made an excellent Sherlock Holmes,  but Nigel Bruce's interpretation of Dr. Watson as a bumbling idiot weakened the overall effect of the films.

As far as I could tell, most of the episodes with Brett were based on stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.

This series is also scheduled for a revisit in the near future.



6. Lord Peter Wimsey
UK
Talented amateur
The TV episodes with Ian Carmichael as Wimsey and Derek Newark as Bunter.
Based on the novels by Dorothy Sayers

Later episodes had Edward Petherbridge as Wimsey, and while he may have been physically closer to Sayers' Wimsey, my prejudices had been set by Carmichael's portrayals, perhaps simply because he came first.  In addition,  I liked Derek Neward's Bunter more than Richard Morant's portrayal.

This series is also due for a second viewing  (actually a third for some episodes).



7. The Avengers
UK
Patrick Macnee as John Steed: Professional
Diana Rigg as Mrs. Peel:  Amateur

As far as I can tell, I've seen the complete series, including the episodes prior to Diana Rigg (with Steed's first four partners)  and those that came after she left.  Those with Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg are far superior to the others.

Since I have just finished watching the entire series, it will be a while before I watch them again, and then most likely I will only watch the Steed and Peel episodes.
Ignore warning



8. The Defenders
US,
Legal/judicial Detectives:
Father and son law firm, whose cases involved such controversial issues as abortion, euthanasia, "un-American" activities, movie censorship.

Lawrence Preston, the father, played by E. G. Marshall
Kenneth Preston, the son, played by Robert Reed

Unfortunately the series is not available on DVD, but I keep hoping.

Trivia:  the series is a spinoff from an earlier Studio One episode.
Walter Preston (father, name was changed to Lawrence in the series), played by Ralph Bellemy
Kenneth Preston (son) played by William Shatner



9.  Midsomer Murders
Midsomer County UK
Police procedural
Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby, played by John Nettles
Some episodes are based on the novels of Carolyn Graham, but most are "inspired" (as the blurb has it) by the characters created by Carolyn Graham.

The program is changing at this time.  John Nettles is leaving the show.  He has played  Tom Barnaby since the first episode, The Killings at Badgers Drift, which was shown on March 22, 1997, fifteen years ago.  Not wanting to drop the show and not wanting to put someone else in as Tom Barnaby, the powers-that-be came up with a novel and intelligent solution.  DCI Tom Barnaby will be replaced by his cousin, DCI John Barnaby.  Tom, in a recent episode, went to Brighton where he worked on a case with his cousin John, thus introducing his replacement to the viewers.  So, it will be a different actor and a different detective, but the Barnaby link will still be there.  And, "John" does sound a bit like "Tom", no?

Since the show is still alive and propagating, I will wait a while before going a second time around.


10.  Peter Gunn
Paid Professional
Peter Gunn was played by Craig Stevens.

Gunn was one of the first of the cool, sophisticated, urbane detectives when he appeared in 1958.  He was followed by John Steed of the Avengers in 1961 and 007 James Bond in 1962 (the first Bond novel appeared in 1953).  There may be others at that time, but those are the three that I remember.

One of the strengths of the series was the music for the series composed  by Henry Mancini.  The Peter Gunn Theme won a Emmy and two Grammys for Mancini and, if I'm not mistaken, was high on the Top 40 Pop Charts for a while.


I just watched it recently, so it will be a while before I watch it again.






11.  Kavanagh, QC
UK
Legal detective
While making the Inspector Morse series, John Thaw, during breaks, took on the role of James Kavanagh, QC, a working class barrister.  Like Morse, Kavanagh is one who never backs down and is frequently in trouble with the upper echelon of the UK legal system, many of whom would be happy if he just went away. Some of the episodes featured a subplot in which they tried to bring him down.

I read that there was some consideration by the producers to elevate Kavanagh to the bench in later episodes, but it was not to be. The last episode of  Kavanagh, QC was televised in 2001 and Thaw died the following year.  .I would have loved to see him up there, hammering away verbally as well as with a gavel.  He'd probably break one every episode.  

I'm still working my way through the series for the first time, so it will be some time before I watch them again

.

12.  A Touch of Frost
UK
Police Procedural
DI  William Edward "Jack" Frost is played by David Janson, who was primarily known for comic roles before taking on the role of Jack Frost.

The series was initially based on the novels of R. D. Wingfield, but later episodes are "inspired" by Wingfield's characters.

At present, only a few shows are available on DVD in the US.  I'm hoping more will eventually appear.  My major problem with the series is my inability to understand the dialogue.  Fortunately subtitles are available but even this sometimes doesn't help.  Several times, instead of providing the dialogue, the subtitle for the dialogue read "Comment unintelligible."   Even those doing the subtitles have difficulty at times.. 

I will watch the series again, some time in the future.


13    Campion
UK
Talented amateur
Albert Campion is played by Peter Davison.  Campion's background is a mystery.  Albert Campion is an alias.  His real name supposedly is Rudolph K with perhaps some connection to royalty.   Davison appeared in many episodes of  All Creatures Great and Small and also was the fifth Dr. Who.  He also had joined the cast of Law and Order: UK, a series which I just found out about and plan to view them sometime in the near future.

Campion is based on the novels of Margery Allingham and he supposedly was  first created as a parody of Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey.

At the present, only a few of the episodes are available on DVD.


14   Inspector George Gently
UK
Police procedural
Inspector George Gently is played by Martin Shaw, whom I think was miscast as  P. D. James' Adam Dalgliesh.  However, he does an excellent job in this role, which is based on the novels of  Alan Hunter.
I have just recently discovered the series, so I'm still working my way through them.  In addition, more episodes are planned for the future, so it will be some time before it's time for a another visit.





15. Taggart
Scotland
Police procedural
Homicide unit, which has had various members over the years.  The series is one of the longest running police shows in the UK.

When I first watched the show, I was confused because none of the characters was named  Taggart.    A bit of research revealed that the show had been on for so long (the 100th episode was aired on Christmas Eve in 2009) that the original cast had left the show long ago (the actor playing Taggart had died in the middle of an episode).  As it turned out,  Taggart, therefore,  was only the first of several DCIs who ran the unit.  In fact, the episodes I'm watching now have DCI Burke as the head of the unit, and some commentaries on the series suggests that he has already been replaced by one of his subordinates.  There are still many episodes on DVD that I haven't seen, and since  new episodes are being made, I won't be doing a revisit for some time.


No doubt I've missed a number of your favorites.  Please list some.  I may not have heard of them and I'm always interested in finding new ones

John Burgon: Petra

As it is John Burgon's birthday today, I thought it appropriate to post this segment of his poem Petra.  John Burgon was an English Anglican divine who became Dean of Chichester Cathedral in 1876.  He is unique in his place in English poetry.  There are poets, as well as composers and novelists and artists and singers, who are known for one work only.  Burgon  is singular in that he is known for one line only.

The entire poem is 370 lines long, but the part that gets most frequently quoted is the last fourteen lines and is sometimes classified as a sonnet.  

Petra is a real place.  According to the Wikipedia entry , 

"Petra (Greek, petra, meaning stone;  Arabic Al-Batra is a historical and archaeological  city in the Jordanian governorate of  Ma'an that is famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system. Established possibly as early as 312 BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited tourist attraction. It lies on the slope of  Mount Hor in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of  Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Arabia. Petra has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985."

There are numerous pages on the Web which feature photographs of the now abandoned city.  If you haven't seen it, I would recommend checking out some of the sites.  It is a spectacular site.  By the way, if you watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, you have seen some of it for the ending of the film was shot there.  

Which line do you think is the famous line that marks John Burgon's place in literary history?

Petra

It seems no work of Man's creative hand,

by labour wrought as wavering fancy planned;

But from the rock as if by magic grown,

eternal, silent, beautiful, alone!

Not virgin-white like that old Doric shrine,

where erst Athena held her rites divine;

Not saintly-grey, like many a minster fane,

that crowns the hill and consecrates the plain;

But rose-red as if the blush of dawn,

that first beheld them were not yet withdrawn;

The hues of youth upon a brow of woe,

which Man deemed old two thousand years ago,

match me such marvel save in Eastern clime,

a rose-red city . . . half as old as time.

-- John Burgon --

(August 21, 1813--August 4, 1888)

Kenko: on travel

Essay 15

"It wakes you up to take a journey for a while, wherever it may be.  As you walk around the place, looking here and there at rustic scenes and mountain villages, everything seems most unfamiliar.  And how amusing it is the way people snatch the first opportunity to send a letter back to the capital:  'When ;you get the chance, don't forget to do this, don't forget to do that.'  In such a place you really notice everything.  Anything good--the the possessions you have brought along with you --seems better, and anyone you meet with artistic talent or handsome features seems more impressive than he usually would.   It is delightful also to go into retreat at some temple or shrine, unknown  to anyone."

-- Kenko --
from Essays in Idleness
trans.  Donald Keene


Being in an unfamiliar place does awaken one's senses, or perhaps it would be more accurate that one is more aware of one's surroundings, possibly a behavior that has significance.for the evolution of a species.  Those species that are not more aware of their surroundings in unfamiliar places may not be alert to the dangers there.  Survival depends upon being aware of what's in the neighborhood.  This trait still exists, I guess.  On the other hand, this may also account for the statistic that most accidents occur in or around the home.  One becomes careless and unobservant in familiar surroundings, thereby allowing for more mishaps.

I find it liberating in some odd way to be somewhere among people who don't know me. I no longer have to act in a certain way because I'm expected to act that way.  I can perhaps try out something new, if the opportunity arises, for I'm free of the most restrictive and universal repression of  behavior known--I don't have to worry about "what the neighbors will think."

I remember, way back when in the '60s , the banal popular platitude was that one couldn't trust anybody over thirty.  I was, therefore, quite happy when I turned thirty, for that meant no one should trust me, and since I couldn't be trusted, I didn't have to act according to their expectations,  and consequently now I was free to act as I chose without fear of disappointing anyone.

After all, I wasn't to be trusted anymore.

Dan Simmons' The Fall of Hyperion

Dan Simmons' The Fall of Hyperion is really the second part of one massive 900 page novel, the first part being Hyperion which was published the year earlier in 1989.  I have both in one volume, Hyperion Cantos, named after the massive epic poem being written by Martin Silenus, one of the characters.  I would strongly urge any potential reader to begin with Hyperion, for these really aren't separate works.  They are as separate as the three parts of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and the second part of the Cantos begins immediately after the end of the first part.

In Hyperion, we meet the pilgrims who have inextricably been allowed by the Church of the Shrike to visit the Time Tombs on the planet  Hyperion, the first such visit allowed in a long time. The pilgrims have no idea of why they were selected while so many others were rejected, and, moreover,  at least one hadn't even applied for permission to visit.

The pilgrims agree to tell the story of an incident in their past which might be related to the pilgrimage, hoping that the stories might provide clues as to the puzzle of why they were selected.  Hyperion, therefore, is the recounting of past events and to some extent the troubles they encounter on their journey first to Hyperion and then to the valley of the Time Tombs.  Hyperion ends with the pilgrims walking abreast on the wide road leading into the valley, singing  "We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz."
(See my posts of November 26 and 27, 2011)

The Fall of Hyperion begins immediately thereafter or approximately at that time since Einsteinian relativity does not allow for simultaneous events, at least in any objective sense of the word. The human government, The Hegemony has sent an armada to Hyperion to prevent the Ousters from taking over the Hyperion System.  The Ousters are human who have rejected the authority of the Hegemony.  In other SF novels, they are usually referred to as the Barbarians and travel in hordes, rather than organized units.  This undisciplined behavior results in their being underestimated by the more traditional military units facing them, with the usual outcome of what happens when one side underrates the other.

This not just a war of two combatants,  the Hegemony and the Ousters; there are three forces engaged in combat, something the humans didn't understand at first.  The third force is the AI:TechnoCore, the artificial intelligences that long ago broke free of human control and had their own plans for who or what should control the universe.  The Hegemony and the TechnoCore are supposedly at peace and cooperate whenever feasible. Both recognize that this situation can't last forever, but the TechnoCore has one highly significant advantage over the Hegemony:  the human planets were known to the Core, but the location of the Core was still a mystery to the Hegemony.  They didn't know if the Core's home was in the universe or in cyberspace, making it impossible to consider attacking it.

The novel interweaves the political infighting among humans in the upper ranks of the Hegemony, the physical combat between the Hegemony and the Ousters, the machinations of the AI: TechnoCore,  and the fates of the pilgrims as they attempt to resolve the question of why they were selected to come to Hyperion and survive amidst the fighting between the Hegemony and the Ousters and also to avoid being killed by the Shrike, the metallic monster that comes and goes and slays or kidnaps as it pleases.  Who or what is the Shrike and what is its role in the conflict are questions all face who are involved in the struggle for control of Hyperion.

Just as Hyperion had an inner structure related to Chaucer's  Canterbury Tales with considerable borrowing from Keats' poetry, so The Fall of Hyperion also has an inner stucture, also including the poetry of  Keats. The inner structure in the second part is that of various religious traditions that include as part of their doctrines the idea of the Judgement Day or the Last Days.

The AI have begun to realize just what the situation really is.   There is a conflict far in the distant future for the control of the universe.  Both sides have sent back representatives to aid those on their side of the struggle.  This is straight from the teachings, first of all, of Zoroaster,  the Persian mystic, whose dates range from 1800 B. C. to 600 B. C.  Some accounts push him as far back as 6000 B. C. He taught that there would be a great battle at the End of Days, in which the God of Light (good) and the God of Darkness (evil) would fight for supremacy, and they  would be joined by those humans who have chosen the side of the good and the side of the bad.  The battle would be decided by the size of the two forces, and therefore the outcome will be unknown until that day.  Christians, Moslems, and Gnostics, on the other hand, tell of the End of the Days, but it is a Judgement Day, for evil has already been defeated and the forces of Good are in control.

In Fall of Hyperion, which follows the Zoroastrian tradition,  the AIs have deduced that the two contending forces are the Ultimate AI and a human oriented consciousness, two godlike beings fighting for supremacy.  The Ultimate AI has sent back the Shrike to prepare the way for thousands of shrikes to destroy the Hegemony, while the human enhanced consciousness has sent back a representative to aid the humans.  While the overall theme follows the Zoroastrian tradition, I can see strong elements of both Gnosticism and Christianity here, for both tell us that the Supreme Being sends a part of itself to aid humans in the struggle against evil.      

One AI,  Ummon, plays a very significant role in the novel,  and it seems to come out of the Zen Buddhist tradition.  Ummon was a late 9th and early 10th century Zen Buddhist Master who founded one of the five major schools of Zen. in China.  He specialized in short, one word answers that made little sense in the context of the discussion.  Much of what the AI Ummon says are quotations taken from Keats' poem, "Hyperion."


Overall Comments: As in the first part, much of the fun comes from piecing out literary references and fragments from the life and times of John Keats. Being familiar with Keats and his time isn't necessary for understanding and following the plot, but it does add to the enjoyment, or at least it did for me.  It's an action-oriented tale that delights on several levels.  Since Hyperion ended as the pilgrims entered the valley of the Time Tomb singing "We're off to see the Wizard," it is only appropriate that Simmons has the survivors at the end of this novel leave the valley singing "Somewhere over the rainbow."

I think Dan Simmons thoroughly enjoyed writing the Hyperion Cantos.

Highly Recommended


P. S. There are actually two more novels in this universe.   The third and fourth novels are Endymion and The Rise of Endymion, which are set some time after the Hyperion Cantos, and some characters occur in both.  The titles are also based on Greek mythology which forms the foundation for a long poem  by Keats.  It's been years since I've read these two so I won't say anything more about them.  But, one of these days .  . . 

Tucson Weather Report

Tucson Weather Report



Sunday, August 12, 2012

3:53 PM  MST

Temperature:          108 F

Relative Humidity     9%




        Such utter silence!
Even the crickets  singing .  .  .
        Muffled by hot rocks
                   --  Basho --

Nikos Kazantzakis: The Fratricides

Nikos Kazantzakis' novel,  The Fratricides, is aptly named for it is set during the late 1940s when Greece was in the midst of a civil war.  "Fratricides"  are brother killers, the first crime that occurs in the Old Testament.  A civil war is also the bloodiest war imaginable, as those who are familiar with the US Civil War know so well.

The novel takes place in the small village of Castello, unfortunately placed between the rebels up in the hills and the government forces camped just outside the village.  Kazantzakis tells us very early in the novel of the horrors brought about by this conflict. He says this of the villagers:

"Their life is an unceasing battle with God, with the winds, with the snow, with death.  For this reason the Castellians were not surprised when the killing began, brother against brother.  There were not afraid; they did not change their way of life.  But what had been simmering slowly within them, mute and unrevealed, now burst out, insolent and free.  The primeval passion of man to kill poured from within them.  Each had a neighbor, or a friend, or a brother, whom he had hated for years, without reason, often without realizing it.  The hatred simmered there, unable to find an outlet.  And now, suddenly, they were given rifles and hand grenades; noble flags waved above their heads.  The clergy, the army, the press urged them on--to kill their neighbor, their friend, their brother. Only in this manner, they shouted to them, can faith and country be saved! Murder, that most ancient need of man, took on a high mystic meaning,.  And the chase began --brother hunting brother.


Some of the men put on red hoods and took to the hills.  Others barricaded themselves in the village, their eyes glued to the top of Mount Etoraki across the way, where the guerrillas were hiding.  With whooping cries the red-hooded ones would storm down the hill, or the black tops would attack from below.  And they would pounce on each other, flesh against flesh.  And the sweet fratricide would begin.  Women with tousled hair dashed form the courtyards and climbed onto the terraces, shouting, to goad the men on.  The dogs of the village howled; they ran panting behind their masters, their tongues hanging out as they joined in the hunt; until night came and swallowed up the people."

Some historians consider the Greek civil war to be the first "battle" of the Cold War, with neighboring Communist governments supplying the rebels and the British and US assisting  the government forces.  Kazantzakis, however, does not bring this element in the novel.  He restricts it to the government "fascist" forces and the communist guerrillas. Since Kazantzakis was on the left side of the political divide, one might see this designation of the.government as being a bit biased.  However, as you can see from the two paragraphs quoted above, the novel is not a portrayal of the noble aspirations and dreams of the guerrillas or the government forces.  Both are shown to be equally brutal. 

Yet, there are incidents in which those on both sides and the villagers themselves show mercy and compassion for the fighters on the other side, but this happens only when the individual is alone.  It never happens when others are about. Is it that  compassion and mercy are possible only  in the individual but seemingly never found in groups? 
  
The village of Castello has suffered from both sides, primarily because it hasn't declared which side it supports. Therefore, it is trusted by neither the government troops nor the guerrillas.  Father Yarnaros is the village priest,  and so far he has been able to keep the village from choosing sides.  But he is under considerable pressure to come out for one side or the other.  Because he has not chosen,  he is distrusted by both sides, even though the leader of the guerrillas is his son.

Father Yanaros is a God-obsessed man, and his relationship to God is not that of pious humility.  At times he scolds God for allowing the killing to continue.  He waits for God to give him a sign as to which side he should choose, but God is silent, which is an answer, though not the one Father Yanaros looks for.  I think Kazantzakis got the pattern for Father Yanaros from the Old Testament, for he sounds much like a  prophet to me--telling unpleasant truths that no one wants to hear, even though it is dangerous, as well as unwanted.  A brutal ideological civil war is not a healthy situation for an outspoken, honest individual to be in.  And Father Yanaros is outspoken, and he will be heard, something both sides realize and fear.

Father Yanaros struggles throughout to minimize the killing and to bring an unwanted (by both sides) truce.  At the end, he makes his decision, but promises are not kept.  It makes no difference which side he chose, for he would have been betrayed by either.

One last point:  Kazantzakis gives us some insight into the psyches of the leaders of the government forces and of the guerrillas.  Both are driven and both are trapped by their situation.  Kazantzakis plays no favorites here. 
 
Overall Reaction:  a very strong powerful novel of a time of conflict and the effects it has on the people involved, whether they take an active role in the fighting or try to remain neutral. 

Highly Recommended

Langston Hughes: Looking for Joy

Joy

I went to look for Joy,
Slim, dancing Joy,
Gay, laughing Joy,
Bright-eyed Joy--
And I found her
Driving the butcher's cart
In the arms of the butcher boy!
Such company, such company,
As keeps this young nymph, Joy!
--Langston Hughes--

I think the charm is its ambiguity.  Is Joy a young girl or is it the emotion itself?  Or is it both?  Whichever it is, Joy can be found anywhere, even in the arms of the butcher boy.    I can picture the cart moving through the streets guided by the butcher boy with his love in his arms, and their hands intertwined while holding the reins.  I can also picture that same cart driven by a young boy, grinning cheerfully, smiling at all who meet his eye, just glad to be alive.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Quatrain LXI

Quatrain LXI is the third of eight quatrains which are grounded on the theme of the Potter and the Pot.  This one begins to present an interesting view of the Creator, perhaps one that seems somewhat different from Jehovah of the Old Testament and Allah of the Qur'an.


First Edition:  Quatrain LXI

Then said another--"Surely not in vain
My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en,
     That He who subtly wrought me into Shape
Should stamp me back to common Earth again."



Second Edition: Quatrain XCI
 
Said one among them--"Surely not in vain,
My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en,
     That He who subtly wrought me into Shape
Should stamp me back to shapeless Earth again?"


Fifth Edition:  Quatrain LXXXIV
 
Said one among them--"Surely not in vain
My substance of the common Earth was ta'en
     And to this figure molded, to be broke,
Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again."


This is an optimistic view of the Potter/Creator's behavior regarding Its creations.  This quatrain argues that,  having created them,  the Creator wouldn't destroy its creations, even if something had gone wrong.  It suggests that mercy and love will overcome justice in the end.

This reminded me of a time long ago when one of my friends was a potter.  I went over to his house for dinner one evening and found several of his pots put aside.  He was going to destroy them because they were failures: they didn't come out the way he had planned.  I saved one because, even though the glazing process had failed, it still had a wonderful color and texture--and I still have it.  Perhaps the pots are being overly optimistic about the Potter's acceptance of pots that have somehow gone wrong.

FitzGerald, as usual, made changes from the first to the second editions, and, what is somewhat unusual, the fifth Edition differs from the second, as well as from the first.

The first edition begins with "Then said another",  while the second and fifth editions begin with "Said one among them."   The first edition suggests that someone else had spoken,  and then this one made a comment, while the second and fifth editions don't give that impression.  Instead, I get the impression that this is one pot that spoke up from a group that was mentioned earlier.

And, that is exactly what happened, because the preceding quatrain for the first edition is different than the preceding quatrains for the second and fifth editions.  In the first edition, the quatrain coming immediately before this one referred to the pot who had asked, "Who is the Potter. .. .?" while the quatrains that came before the quatrains from the second and fifth editions described the room in which many pots were situated and there was some talk among them.  Therefore, in the second and fifth editions, these are the first pots to speak, therefore "one among them" is more logical.   The rest of the first line is the same for all three versions.

In the second line, only one change is introduced and that in the fifth edition.  In the first and second editions,  we read "My Substance from the common Earth" whereas that becomes "My substance of the common Earth."  "From," to me anyway, suggests that the substance is now removed or different than the common earth it came from, whereas "of" still maintains the identity or relationship of the pot's substance with common earth.  The fifth edition wording maintains the pots' connection to its source, the earth.

An equally interesting difference relates to the change in the third line which moves from the active voice in the first and second versions,  to the passive voice in the fifth, thus subtly relieving the Creator/Potter from being named as one who would destroy Its creations.  In the first and second editions, it directly states that the Creator wouldn't annihilate it, while the fifth edition, it merely states  "And to this figure molded, to be broke,/Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again."  It still speaks of annihilation, but no annihilator is no  longer specified, but just implied.


The fourth line of the quatrain also shows some differences in wording:.


First Edition:         "Should stamp me back to common Earth again."

Second Edition:    "Should stamp me back to shapeless Earth again?"

Fifth Edition:         "Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again."


"Common Earth" in the first edition is changed to "shapeless Earth" in the later editions.   "Shapeless Earth" is a more evocative expression for it brings out the idea of destruction far more strongly than does "common earth."  "Common" is a vague term, suggesting ordinary or the mundane while "Shapeless" following the previous references to shaping or molding conveys destruction or annihilation.

The pots/creations seem to be developing a theory that depicts the Potter/Creator as being a kindly benevolent being who wouldn't destroy its creations, because It had taken so much effort in shaping them, perhaps in Its own image.  I think most, if not all, Christian and Moslem theologians would disagree at this point.

Thomas Mullen: The Revisionists

When I first picked up Thomas Mullen's The Revisionists, I thought it was going to be a traditional Time Patrol novel.  Some agency in the future sends operatives back into the past to either capture criminals who have gone back to use their superior technology to commit various crimes or to prevent those who would like to prevent certain events from taking place or perhaps to bring about a different future. For example, one might attempt to prevent the holocaust by assassinating Hitler long before he ruled Germany.  The agency then would attempt to prevent the assassination because of the fear that this would change the future, even though it meant allowing the deaths of millions of people during WWII.   Preventing WWII  might make for a better future, but it could also bring about one that was worse: averting WWII in the 1940s might bring about a nuclear war in the 50s.

Thomas Mullen gives us this, but he also does something more.  Normally, the focus would be on the Time Agent's attempts to either prevent something that would happen or to make sure that something did happen, so as to ensure that the future remains unchanged.  In this novel, Zed (or Troy Jones, his false contemporary identity) is sent back to counter the efforts of the hags, or historical agitators.  These people, from Zed's own time, are dissidents who believe the government is a dictatorship and go back into time to prevent events from happening which would lead to the years of warfare that would eventually bring the future world-wide government to power.

While this all sounds very typical, it is only part of the story.  Mullen not only follows the Agent, but he also introduces several plot threads which all eventually, and logically,  come together at the end.  It is a tangled plot which seemingly involves the FBI, the CIA, Enhanced Awareness (a company that creates and sells advanced surveillance technology to anybody), various whistle blowers (one from a law firm and another from the CIA), and a young Indonesian woman who somehow manages to become a domestic slave to a South Korean diplomat living in the US.

The tale is closer to being an espionage thriller than a typical time travel novel, especially if one ignores the "Z" chapters which focus on Zed's activities as he strives make sense of what has become a very confusing situation.  He must now contend not only with the hags but also with various contemp (Zed's term for the people of the time he now inhabits)  forces, all of whom seem determined to stop him.  Along with Zed's problems, the various contemp heroes and heroines (Leo, Tasha and Sari) all find themselves being confronted by various strangers, all of whom carry badges from one or more agencies--some governmental, some quasi-governmental and claiming to be working for a governmental agency, and some who seem to be thugs really to kill somebody or anybody for some inexplicable reason, at first anyway.

To add to the general confusion, Zed encounters a fellow Agent, who has also been assigned the same task, which is something that normally never happens.  In addition, when they compare notes, they find that each has been given only partial information about the present situation, again something very odd.  To complicate matters even further, the fellow agent expresses some doubts about their mission and their government.

Zed is a complex character, or at least, he becomes one, as he moves from total acceptance that the world he comes from is the best of all possible worlds (or so he is frequently told by the government, so frequently I began to suspect propaganda rather than a factual appraisal)  to confusion, and then to doubts about the government, his role, and even his identity, especially as he gradually loses most of the special technology that allows him to function in ways superior to the contemp forces.

Is he really an agent from the future or is he psychotic and reinterpreting his past to fit in with his delusions?  Troy Jones was a real person whose short life actually resembled Zed's life, including the loss of his wife and children.  Zed also only needed minor plastic surgery to make him resemble Troy.     This is why Zed was given this identity.  Since his superior technology no longer works, Zed really has nothing to prove that he really comes from the future.  I think P. K. Dick would be very happy at this point.

Overall Comments:  I'm going to take a close look at other works by Thomas Mullen, as his writing style (clear and striaghtforward), characterization, and plot construction  really impress me.

Lin Yutang: from The Importance of Living

"No one can say that a life with childhood, manhood and old age is not a beautiful arrangement; the day has its morning, noon and sunset, and the year has its season, and it is good that it is so.  There is no good or bad in life, except what is good according to its own season.  And if we take this biological view of  life and try to live according to the seasons, no one but a conceited fool or an impossible idealist can deny that human life can be lived like a poem.  Shakespeare has expressed this idea more graphically in his passage about the seven states of life, and a good many Chinese writers have said about the same thing.  It is curious that Shakespeare was never very religious, or very much concerned with religion.  I think this was his greatness; he took human life largely as it was, and intruded himself as little upon the general scheme of things as he did upon the characters of his plays.  Shakespeare was like Nature herself, and this is the greatest compliment we can pay to a writer or thinker.  He merely lived, observed life and went away."


What can one say then about those many lives that are cut short in childhood or maturity and never reach old age?  Would such a life be an unfinished poem?

Joseph Wood Krutch: the way of the desert and the way of the jungle

"The way of the desert and the way of the jungle represent the two opposite methods of reaching stability at two extremes of density.  In the jungle there is plenty of everything life needs except mere space, and it is not for the want of anything else that individuals die or that races have any limit set to their proliferation.  Everything is on top of everything else;  there is no cranny which is not both occupied and disputed. At every moment, war to the death rages fiercely.  The place left vacant by any creature that dies is seized almost instantly by another, and life seems to suffer from nothing except too favorable an environment.  In the desert, on the other hand, it is the environment itself which serves as the limiting factor.  To some extent the struggle of creature against creature is mitigated, though it is of course not abolished even in the vegetable kingdom.  For the plant which in the one place would be strangled to death by its neighbor dies a thirsty seedling in the desert because that same neighbor has drawn the scant moisture from the spot of earth out of which is was attempting to spring.

Sometimes  it seems to me that, of the two methods, the desert's is the kindlier and that, though I have never seen the jungle, it is there rather than here that I should feel the sense of discomfort (or worse) which the desert produces in some of those who experience it for the first time.  Certainly I am little aware of any such discomfort.  I wonder if it does not augur ill for the human race that its techniques have enabled it to produce for itself a sort of artificial, technological jungle in which too many people can live somehow--if not well--and where, therefore, as in the jungle, the struggle inevitably becomes ultimately the struggle of man against man and not the struggle of man against nature."

-- Joseph Wood Krutch --
from Baja California and the Geography of Hope


Having lived in Tucson, Arizona for over forty years now, and only a few miles from where Krutch himself spent his later years, I have to agree with him.  I have never seen a jungle, except in pictures, but I know I would much rather live here in a city in the desert than one in a jungle. 

Reading the headlines everyday, both local and international, leads me to suspect that Krutch, unfortunately, is right.  The human race now lives in a jungle of its own making. Perhaps that Garden of Eden was really a desert.

Carson McCullers: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, novel

Carson McCullers' novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, is a remarkable work in itself.  That it was published when McCullers was only twenty-three just makes it even more unique.  I may have read some short stories by McCullers in the past, but this is the first novel I've read by her.  I will definitely search out others by her.

The central figure is John Singer, an ironic name for he is a deaf mute.  He communicates mostly by short notes and nods and gestures.  He knows sign language, but the only person in that small town "in the middle of the deep South" who could understand him was his roommate, Spiros Antonapoulos, who also was a deaf mute.  Since Antonapoulos seldom responded at any length, it is hard to know just how much he really understood.  Singer worked as an engraver in the local jewelry shop, a perfect job for him since he did not have to communicate with the customers.

At the start of the novel, Antonapoulos's behavior became very erratic and bizarre, and he was committed to the state mental institution.  Spiros accepted that so calmly and placidly, as he accepted everything else that happened to him, that I wondered if he understood what was happening, or even cared.   He had food to eat, shelter, and a staff that cared for him: he was content.  Seemingly Singer was far more disturbed than Spiros.

Regardless of how little Antonapoulos communicated with him, Singer had felt that someone understood him, and now that person was gone.  Singer had lost his only friend and confidant.  He was now more alone than he had been since he met Spiros.  Their room was now empty, and Singer couldn't spend the lonely hours after work there.  He spent more time now at the New York Cafe where he had his three meals a day, and he spent the evening hours walking about the town.

Then something unexpected happened.  Because he now spent more time out of his room, he became more accessible to others, especially those who felt alone and who felt that nobody in that town really understood them.  It was gradual, but Singer began to be sought out by others who believed that he and only he really grasped what they were saying.

I think Walt Whitman expressed it best in the following excerpt from "A Noiseless Patient Spider"

"And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul."


Singer would listen to them with a smile on his face, nod quietly at times, and occasionally write a brief note.  He never contradicted them nor did he ever argue with them.  He listened and accepted everything.  Even though he actually understood very little of what they were saying, he could read lips to some extent, he was, therefore, the perfect listener.  They would come up to him at the Cafe, or  they would walk along with him for a few blocks as he walked the town in the evening.  And even stranger yet, some would even visit him in his room, three in particular.

One was Jake Blount, a footloose wanderer who alternated between drunken sprees and attempts to unionize the workers in this small town.  The time was just prior to World War II, and union organizers were viewed with antagonism and hostility, and worse, suspected of being communists.  His concern was for the working man and only John Singer would listen to him without anger or fear.

Another was Dr. Benedict Copeland, the only black doctor in town and possibly in the county, and perhaps even in the state.  Many of the white residents of that town refused to believe that a black man could become a doctor.  Dr. Copeland's dream was to erase the barriers raised by segregation that made "his people" second class citizens and poverty-stricken because of poor schooling and low-paying menial jobs.  He someday hoped to be able to lead a thousand or more blacks on a march to Washington, DC, to demand the government end segregation.


The third person was Mick Kelly, a young girl of about twelve years of age whose parents owned the rooming house that John Singer lived in.  She thought of little else except music.  She had music in her but she didn't know how to get it out and had just started music lessons.  She didn't know what her future would but she knew music would be there.


I see those three, Blount, Copeland, and Mick, as searching for someone who could understand and accept them and their dreams.  They believed, erroneously, that John Singer was that person.  If they gained strength and hope from talking to him because they thought that he and he alone understood them, they were mistaken.  He did not understand them, but was really more of a mirror in that he reflected back their hopes and dreams.  Ironically, he was in the same position as they were for he also had been searching, reaching out for understanding to Spiros, who understood Singer no more than Singer understood his listeners.  Singer's dream,  in which he saw himself on a staircase  looking up at Spiros and behind him lower on the staircase were his listeners, looking up at him, is symbolic of their relationship.  As they reached out  for Singer, Singer reached out to Spiros.

Two other characters, though not confidants of Singer, played important roles.  Portia, the black housekeeper and cook at the Kelly rooming house, was a link between the white and black communities, for she was the daughter of  Dr. Copeland.  The second was Biff  Brannon, the owner of the New York Cafe.  He was the silent observer who watched and probably understood more about the relationship  between Singer and the others than did anyone else.  Brannon functions much like the chorus in a Greek tragedy. 


This world, however, is not static.  Change is everywhere and inevitable.  And change comes to this small town in the middle of the deep South.  Some die.  Henry James once said, when questioned as to why death in his works was always offstage,  that death is not unique or unusual for it comes to all.  What is unique are the repercussions of that death, the effects of that death on others.  The ending is just that:  the outcome of those deaths on others.

I'll repeat what I said at the beginning:  this is a remarkable novel  by a remarkable author.  I shall have to read more by her.  

Koushun Takami: Battle Royale, the novel

Koushun Takami's novel, Battle Royale, was first published in Japan in 1999 and translated into English in 2003.  The film version came out in 2000.  As I mentioned in my post about the film, I hadn't known of either the novel or the film until someone made a comment on my post about Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, which was first published in 2008. The commenter suggested that I should see Battle Royale for it was superior to Collins'  novel.  My curiosity aroused, I watched the film and discovered it was based on the novel by Koushun Takami. 

I am intrigued, as one can tell from previous posts, by the relationship between the prose tale and the film inspired by it.  I have now read Battle Royale and, frankly, hadn't intended to do a post on it.  However, I keep thinking about the novel, and so I decided to comment on it also, hoping, I suspect, to exorcise it.

The core of the novel has been closely followed by the film's director, Kinji Fukasaku.  The major changes occur in the background or setting of the film.

The novel is set in an alternate universe, one in which The Republic of Greater East Asia (Japan), is ruled by a dictator, in fact the 318th dictator, which suggests that this government has lasted a long time.  That this is not true is an example of distorting the Past (see 1984 for the rationale) in order to maintain control of the population.

In the novel, one of the characters says that he's uncovered documents that suggest the dictatorship has probably lasted not more than 70 years, which, assuming the novel is set around the beginning of the 21st century, would put the beginning of the dictatorship in the 1930s.  That would correspond to the increasing control of Japan by the military in the real world.  And, the name echoes the actual creation of Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere by Japan at the beginning of World War II.  Moreover, the US is seen as the great enemy of the Republic, which also takes us back to the 30s and 40s in the real world.

Takami, the author,  in the new postscript to the novel says that he had taken most of  the language of the government diatribes against the US and also the government propaganda regarding the paradise it has created for the people from governmental communiques by the North Korean government.

There is no economic collapse in the novel as there is in the film which brings about the battle royale as an emergency measure; instead it is the established policy of the government to conduct such programs as a means of maintaining control of the population through terror and intimidation.  And, in the novel, it isn't just one class that's selected, it is one of fifty such junior high classes.  The toll, therefore, is around two thousand junior high school students.

The rules of the battle royale game are simple.  The winner is the last person alive.  If no one dies during any twenty-four hour period, then the collars, fixed around the neck of each student, will explode, thereby ending the game.  The killing must continue. In the map provided the students, the island, where the game takes place, is set in a grid pattern.  One of  the sections will be become off-limits regularly.  The collars of those found in an off-limit area will explode.  This forces the students out of their hiding places and also reduces the territory that they can occupy, which increases the likelihood of encounters among the students.  The students must kill or be killed.

The core of the novel consists of chapters that alternate between the struggle of the three main characters, Shogo, Shuya, and Noriko, to survive in this hell on earth, and the fates of the other students.  One chapter would be about the three mentioned above, and that would be followed by a chapter in which we would read about the events that led up to a meeting and the eventual death of one of the other students.  Since there were 42 students in the class, there are many such chapters depicting the death or deaths of one or more of the junior high students.

Most of the conflicts and deaths were the results of accidental meetings of the terrified students.  In some cases some would attempt to show they didn't want to fight, but the fear and mistrust had grown so that few trusted anybody at this point.  That they had been friends, fellow classmates, confidants, and even lovers in some cases, only a few hours earlier, made no difference at this point.  They felt they could trust no one. Some were so paralyzed by fear that they offered no resistance to any that they met or who stumbled upon them in their hiding places.

Several of the students became predators.  They would pretend to be friendly and peaceful until they got close enough to kill their prey.  One of the predators listened for signs of conflict and then head in that direction, intending to remain hidden during the fight and then kill the survivor(s) when given the opportunity.

I'm not sure how to characterize this novel; perhaps SF/Horror might be the most accurate description. It's an excellent translation, with none of the awkwardness that frequently appears when rendering a tale into a different language.

Can I recommend it?  It's a powerful novel, one that will stay with the reader for some time and I speak from personal experience here.  Right now, having just finished it a few days ago, I am very ambivalent about it.  I'm not sure that I should have finished it, nor do I completely understand why I finished it.  I can understand those who decide to neither read the novel nor see the film. 

Robert Frost: Happiness Makes Up in Height for What It Lacks in Length

One point to make about this title is that it certainly grabs my attention.  Usually I glance over the title, perhaps consider it for a very short time, and then move on to the work.  Not this time, for I really stop and contemplate it at length.  Why did Frost create such a long and unwieldy title?  It almost beats me over the head as  it says, "This is the moral, the theme.  I don't want you to miss it and, therefore, not understand the poem."  The intensity of  happiness overcomes its brevity is the meaning, or so it seems to be saying.  Anyway, here's the poem.

Enjoy



Happiness Makes Up In Height For What It lacks in Length


O stormy, stormy world,
The days you were not swirled
Around with mist and cloud,
Or wrapped as in a shroud,
And the sun's brilliant ball
Was not in part or all
Obscured from mortal view--
Were days so very few
I can but wonder whence
I get the lasting sense
Of so much warmth and light.
If my mistrust is right
It may be altogether
From one day's perfect weather,
When starting clear at dawn
The day swept clearly on
To finish clear at eve.
I verily believe
My fair impression may
Be all from that one day
No shadow crossed but ours
As through its blazing flowers
We went from house to wood
For change of solitude.


I find the syntax of the first seven lines very tangled.  Then  when "Were days so very few" appeared, I had to stop to go went back to work out just which days those were.  Each line is simple and straightforward in itself,  but the flow is rather murky at first.


Frost really stresses the point of this being, perhaps, one of those rare clear days in the following lines:

When starting clear at dawn
The day swept clearly on
To finish clear at eve.

 
The point seems to be that summer weather isn't quite as perfect as he remembers, and he may have been misled into thinking so because one perfect day overshadows many stormy, cloudy, rainy days.  It certainly seems as though that's what the poet is suggesting.  But, the problem is that this is Robert Frost and it's seldom as simple and straightforward as that.

"No shadow crossed but ours
As through its blazing flowers
We went from house to wood
For change of solitude."



As usual with Frost, the last lines of the poem frequently bring up questions or bring into question what appears to be the overall theme.  Frost tells us here at the end that there are two of them, something not even hinted at earlier.   "No shadow" suggests that it was a clear day and also that they were alone.  They did not go into the wood for solitude but for a "change of solitude."  They went for a different type of solitude, the kind found in the wood which was different from the kind found in a house.  And again, as usual with Frost, he leaves it up to us to discover or even perhaps to create those differences.

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain LX

Quatrain LX continues the themes of the Creator or Potter, pottery, and earth.  In his later editions FitzGerald does something quite different to Quatrain LX.



First Edition:  Quatrain LX

And, strange to tell, among the Earthen Lot
Some could articulate, while others not:
     And suddenly one quite impatient cried--
"Who is the Potter, pray, and who is the Pot?"


I'm going to change my usual format of providing the three versions and then discussing the differences among them. FitzGerald has not just simply revised the quatrain as he has done in the past by changing the wording, but he has also taken the two points he made in the first edition and split them into two separate quatrains.  This is true for both the second and the fifth editions.

The first point is that some of the pots could talk while others couldn't, a relatively simple distinction..

The second point is that one impatient pot wasn't sure who was the Potter (Creator) and who the Pot (created).  I find this strange (just as strange as he finds it in the telling) for seemingly there should be a vast difference between the Creator and Its creations.  Perhaps this might be an indication of the confusion that exists among those created as to their place in the universe, which certainly isn't something new introduced at this point by the Poet for one of the recurring themes of the Rubaiyat in previous quatrains has been the lack of  this knowledge: where did we come from?  why are we here?  where are we going?

In the first line the Poet also states that he found it "strange," but I'm not exactly certain as to what he found strange.  Was it strange that some pots could talk or was it strange that only some could talk while others couldn't?  I also puzzled a bit over those silent pots who didn't speak.  I wondered whether it was that they couldn't speak or simply had chosen to remain silent.  Eventually, because of the language of the second line, I decided that they couldn't speak.

"Some could articulate, while others not:"


I think that "could" is implied in the second part of the line so the line fully expressed would read


"Some could articulate, while others [could]  not:"




The First Point:  that some pots talked while other did not


Second Edition:  Quatrain  XC

And once again there gathered a scarce heard 
Whisper among them; as it were, the stirr'd
     Ashes of some all but extinguished Tongue,
Which mine ear kindled into living Word.

This echoes back to earlier quatrains in this edition (XXXVIII---XL) where the ability of the pots to speak was modified from some could while others couldn not speak to their speech was hard to distinguish.  In this quatrain, their speech is a whisper, such the sound produced by ashes being stirred about--almost impossible to hear.  These pots seem to be ancient for the Poet uses terms such as "Ashes" and "extinguished Tongue,"  Death is also suggested by the term Ashes--"Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust. . . ."

T . S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men" comes to mind here:

"We are the hollow men

.   .   .   .   .   .

Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar"

Their speech is as meaningless as the wind in dry grass, air moving among the dead .  In the last line of the quatrain, the Poet says the he himself had to kindle those whispers into living Word.  Did those whispers have meaning or was the meaning given to them by the Poet?




Fifth Edition:  Quatrain LXXXIII

Shapes of all Sorts and Sizes, great and small,
That stood along the floor and by the wall,
    And some loquacious Vessels were; and some
Listen'd perhaps, but never talk'd at all.

The quatrain in the fifth edition is very different from that of the second, but, like the first edition, the point here is that some talked and some didn't.   But, that being said, it is still rather different than both the first and second editions, which is unique, for up to this point, the fifth has been very close to the second edition.  First, the pots are described in more detail than in previous quatrains and editions.  They are not just around the place, but they are along the floor and by the wall.  While that really isn't very specific, it gives us a better sense of the place with its pots scattered almost everywhere.  Secondly, we now see pots that of all sizes an shapes, from great to small.  So, they are not uniform pots, but a wide variety of them, just as humans come in all sizes and shapes.

While the point here is that some talked while others did not, the Poet introduces ambiguity here for now we don't know whether the silent vessels could talk but chose not to or that they possibly were able to listen but could not speak.  




The Second Point: the pot who asked who is the Potter and who the Pot.


Second Edition:  Quatrain XCIV


Thus with the Dead as with the Living, What?
And Why? so ready, but the Wherefore not,
    One on a sudden peevishly exclaim'd,
"Which is the Potter, pray, and which the Pot?"

In the first line we can see a reference to the Dead and the Living, which is not present in either the first or fifth editions, but the sense is ambiguous, if not perplexing.  Among the living and the dead,  two questions "What?" and "Why?" are promptly asked but "Wherefor" is not.  Yet "wherefor" means for what reason or for what purpose, which to me seems the same as why.  Perhaps the previous quatrains in this edition might provide a clue.  Unfortunately, given the format I've adopted, I can't do that now.  Perhaps in future posts, we may see an answer to the problem of the first two lines.

The last two lines, though, pose no problem for they clearly are related to the last lines of the quatrain in the first edition.   Two changes are evident.  One is that the pot is no longer impatient as it was in the first edition, but it is now peevish, which has a different meaning.  Peevish suggests easily irritated or annoyed while an impatient person might be peevish but that would be related to a delay, something not suggested by peevish.

The second difference is the change of "Who" in the first edition  to "Which"  in the second.  There seems to me to be a very subtle distinction between the two, more of an impression than something specific to point at. To say "who" implies, to me anyway, that the pot simply wants to know the identity of the Potter and the identify of the Pot.  To say "which," again to me, suggests that there are two entities here and the Pot cannot distinguish between them sufficiently to be able to say which is the Potter and which the Pot.  "Who" is simply asking for an identification while "which" implies making a distinction between the Potter and the Pot.




Fifth Edition:  LXXXVII

Whereat some one of the loquacious Lot--
I think a Sufi pipkin--waxing hot--
    "All this of Pot and Potter--Tell me then,
Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?"


The fifth edition quatrain also differs somewhat from the first and the second editions.   The Poet has dropped the description of the pots in the second edition and now focuses on the pot that asked the question.  It is not impatient or peevish, but it is now "waxing hot."  That could mean getting excited or perhaps emotional, but impatience or peevishness could also be included here.  We don't know for certain. But while the Poet dropped description of the setting, we are given instead to know that the one asking the question might be a "Sufi pipkin."  A Sufi is a mystic who is a follower of  Islam, while a pipkin is a small pot with a horizontal rather than a vertical handle.  This could be subtle verbal jab at the Sufis.

The last two lines in this version appear to be more of a challenge than a request for information. The pipkin is irritated by the previous discussion and demands in exasperation to know   "Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?"  The Poet has now restored the Who from the first edition.  It is rare that the fifth edition follows the first rather than the second edition, but this is a rather unique treatment of the first edition quatrain.

The quatrain and its revisions poses several problems. One is the initial question as to the identity of the Potter and the Pot.  Could the significance of this be the Poet's concern that humans too often confuse the Creator with its creatures, that humans focus too much on the creations and ignore the Creator?  Or, could it be that humans don't know their place and begin criticizing  or critiquing the Creator's actions, such as when a student or perhaps students begin to disagree with a teacher's lesson plan and the teacher exasperatedly asks, "Who is the teacher here?"

Or, it could be an oblique way of asking whether God created humanity in Its own image or whether humanity created God in its own image.

There still are six more quatrains linked by the theme of the Potter and the Pot, so we may find some answers in subsequent quatrains.

Michael Lister: The Body and the Blood

Author:  Michael Lister
John Jordan series
Title: The Body and the Blood
Mystery Type:  Ex-Law Enforcement Officer
Setting:  Contemporary, northern Florida
Detective:  John Jordan, prison chaplain

This is one of two series that Michael Lister is writing at this time.  The Body and the Blood is the fourth in the "John Jordan" series, the first of which is Power in the Blood (1997).  He also has another series featuring a P. I. operating out of northern Florida and a number of standalone novels.

This is the first in the "John Jordan" series that I've read, but that didn't pose much of a problem.  Lister was able to sneak in needed background material without being too obvious or providing long expository paragraphs.

This is a family-oriented novel.  Jordan's father is the sheriff of the county where the prison is located, and his brother (no love lost there on either side) is a deputy.  The officer in charge of the investigation just happens to be Jordan's father-in-law, or to be precise, recently reinstated father-in-law.   Jodan's wife had divorced him, but for some reason had failed to file the papers and, therefore,  they had recently discovered that they were still married.   Now, they were attempting a reconciliation.  Daniels, the father-in-law,  is a recovering alcoholic and has gotten past the initial stages.  He has changed considerably, and all, including Jordan, are very pleased with the new Daniels.

Jordan is a chaplain at Potter Correctional Institution, located between Panama City and Tallahassee Florida.  He has received a tip that somebody will be murdered there, date, time, and place provided.  Jordan notified the prison authorities and decided to be present himself at the specified time.  Daniels, who is the Inspector General of the Florida Department of Corrections, is also present because one of the prisoners, Justin Menge, is a prosecution witness in a case that Daniels is personally interested in.


The murder is supposed to take place in the Protective Management (PM)  unit at the prison.  The inmates in this section are those who would be in serious danger if they were housed with the general prison population.  Former members of law enforcement agencies, the judicial branch, homosexuals, and child killers are examples of those found in a PM unit. At time of the murder, the Catholic Chaplain has come to the unit to hold Mass for the inmates.  The mass is being said in the hallway very near the cell doors.

Jordan and Daniels attend Mass with their attention obviously elsewhere--seeing who is there, who is absent, and who is moving about.  Near the end of the service, Jordan notices blood slowly seeping out from under the door of one of the cells.  They find the cell door locked and need to call in to have it released.  All locks are electronic and need to be opened or locked by a guard at the entry port to the unit.  Inside the locked cell is a dead man.  Neither Jordan nor Daniels had seen anyone, except for the victim, Justin Menge,  whose cell this is, enter the cell nor leave it.  It's a classic locked-room mystery, with the added complication of it being in a prison and under observation at all times.

Daniels asks Jordan to assist him on the case, as Jordan is far more familiar with the prison and the staff and inmates than he is.  Jordan agrees, for a variety of reasons.  One is that he enjoys being a detective and feels that he can be a chaplain and an investigator at the same time.  As to be expected, Jordan spends more time in investigating than he does being a chaplain.


The two questions facing  Jordan are why and how.  Once those questions are answered, figuring out who shouldn't be a problem.  There are a number of possible motives, each of which brings in a different set of suspects.  Menge was in the PM unit because he was a homosexual.  He and Chris Sobel were partners.  Was there someone who was jealous of Menge?

In addition, there had been a serious lack of communication among the staff: the person Menge was going to testify against was housed in the same unit.  Menge's death obviously was welcome news to the prisoner. Was he or someone employed by him responsible?  Or Menge could have learned something concerning either a prisoner or a staff member that brought about his death.

Jordan has some issues of his own to contend with.  His reconciliation with his wife and his relationship to a woman whom he had known for almost his entire life are causing him problems for he must choose between them.   Secondly, there's a violent side to him which is being exacerbated by his contact with the prisoners.  As one of the characters in the novel observes, prison changes everybody, and not just the prisoners. 

Jordan spends some time developing the north Florida region in the novel and also the prison setting, both of which are convincing and informative.  I've never been to Florida so I can't comment on the correspondance to the real northern Florida area, but I did teach a class or two every semester for at least five years at several prisons in Arizona.  While I never got as deeply involved as Jordan does, I found nothing in the depiction of the prison setting to contradict my own experiences and memories of teaching there.  

               
It's an interesting series, and I'm curious as where it goes.  I am planning on reading the first book,  Power in the Blood, because I would like to see if Jordan is still the same in the fourth book as he is in the first book in the series.

The Woman in the Moon: a German SF film

Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou were married from 1922-1933.  During those eleven years, they collaborated on a number of remarkable films:  Lang as director and von Harbou as screenwriter.    In 1927 Lang directed and von Harbou wrote the script for Metropolis, one of the best SF films ever made.  Shortly afterwards, von Harbou wrote a novelization of the film.  I have a copy but I haven't had a chance to read it yet.  Perhaps I should rent the film again and then read the novel.

In 1929, Lang directed and again von Harbou did the screenplay for another SF film, The Woman in the Moon, which was based on a novel she had written the year before.  Then, in 1931, Lang directed von Harbou's script for M, starring a young Peter Lorre as a serial child murderer, whom the police seem unable to capture.  So, the criminal underworld, disturbed by the attentions of the police, decide to take a hand.  This is one of  Peter Lorre's finest performances.

As I mentioned above, The Woman in the Moon was produced several years after Metropolis.  It is a different sort of SF film in that it appears to be set in relatively contemporary Germany.  At least there was nothing that I could see, except for the space ship of course, that couldn't be found in Germany in the late 1920s.

Wolf Helius is an engineer and the prosperous owner of his own firm.  He is the friend and sole support of a disgraced scientist, Prof Manfeldt, who years ago had theorized that there was considerable gold on the moon.  When he propounded his theory at a scientific meeting, he was laughed at and ridiculed, and his reputation destroyed. However, Helius believed him and is in the process of building a spaceship, supposedly in search of the gold, but to Helius, the gold is really just an excuse to go to the moon.

A group of wealthy unscrupulous business folk (four men and a cigar-smoking woman) learn of Helius' plan and decide that the gold really should be in their hands and "not controlled by crackpots and visionaries," forgetting of course that it is the crackpots and visionaries who discovered the possibility of gold and  who  developed the nearly completed spaceship.  As part of a carefully laid plot, they stole the plans and threatened Helius with destroying the ship and possibly hurting a number of people.  He could prevent this only  by allowing their representative to go along on the journey.   He agreed, probably partially because he really wasn't interested in the gold--it was the journey that counted.

The ship's crew, therefore, consisted of Helius, Hans Windegger (his closest friend and assistant engineer and also assistant pilot),  Prof Manfeldt, and Turner, the representative of the evil business cabal.  Also aboard is Friede, a young astronomy student who is engaged to Windegger.  And after liftoff,  they discover a stowaway, a young boy who insists he an "expert" on space travel by virtue of having read numerous SF stories.  One complication that emerges during the trip is Helius' undeclared love for Friede which he has kept secret from everybody, but being in such close contact with her is making it extremely difficult for him.  As one might expect, this will play a significant role in what happens on the trip.

One advantage Lang had was his scientific consultant,  Dr. Hermann Oberth who,  along with the American  Robert Goddard and the Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky,  is considered one of  the three founding fathers of space flight.

See if the following doesn't sound a bit familiar.  The ship was built in a large industrial complex, not in someone's back yard or out in the desert.  Secondly it was built in a large hanger with gantries that pulled back as the ship prepared for liftoff.  In addition,  the ship was based on a large platform that moved the ship out of the hanger to the lifting area (launch pad in NASA terminology).  Moreover, it was a  three-stage rocket which discarded stages one and two after liftoff.  I've seen a number of  early films about space travel, and I don't remember any that suggested a multi-stage rocket, prior to the NASA program.


Trivia:
--Helsius,  as they approached the time for liftoff, called out  "ten seconds to go....6...5...4...3...2...1."    This is the first time according to the commentary that a countdown had been used in a film.

--At the end of the film, they discovered that they didn't have enough oxygen for the return trip.  Somebody was going to have to remain on the moon (Destination Moon?)   But, since the moon had a breathable atmosphere, there was a chance that the one who remained could be rescued if the ship could be quickly readied for a return flight.  After all, there was gold in them thar' lunar hills.

--When I discovered the the film was based on von Harbou's novel, I immediately went looking for it.  Amazon.com had nothing available while abebooks.com had two available: a French language version for $2000+  and a second copy for over $9000 dollars.  Needless to say I'm not going to have my own copy soon.

I don't particularly care for silent films and normally give up after about 30 minutes, or even less sometimes.  However, I  found this film to be interesting enough to be able to watch it in its entirety.   Another exception to the rule is Metropolis.  Both are SF films and both are directed by Fritz Lang.  This may not be a coincidence.  Overall, this is one of  most technically accurate films of space travel I have seen that was made long before the actual trips to the moon.