Friday, February 26, 2016
N. Scott Momaday: "The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee
In their own way, poems teach the reader. Frequently they teach the reader something about the reader, sometimes about the subject of the poem, and sometimes about poetry itself. Some poems are relatively straightforward in that one can get an idea of what the poem is about early on and finds no surprises when one reaches the end. Others? Sometimes one has an idea of the poem and suddenly one line changes the way one views the poem and frequently forces one to go back and read it again. Robert Frost does that, regularly, and so regularly that I now read his poems and wait for the turn near the end.
This is one of those poems that at the end suddenly produces a surprise. It is by N. Scott Momaday, and I thought I knew what the poem was about, but that line near the end changed my view of the poem.
The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee
I am a feather on the bright sky
I am the blue horse that runs in the plain
I am the fish that rolls, shining, in the water
I am the shadow that follows a child
I am the evening light, the lustre of meadows
I am an eagle playing with the wind
I am a cluster of bright beads
I am the farthest star
I am the cold of the dawn
I am the roaring of the rain
I am the glitter on the crust of the snow
I am the long track of the moon in a lake
I am a flame of four colors
I am a deer standing away in the dusk
I am a field of sumac and the pomme blanche
I am an angle of geese in the winter sky
I am the hunger of a young wolf
I am the whole dream of these things
You see, I am alive, I am alive
I stand in good relation to the earth
I stand in good relation to the gods
I stand in good relation to all that is beautiful
I stand in good relation to the daughter of Tsen-tainte
You see, I am alive, I am alive
-- N. Scott Momaday --
from In the Presence of the Sun: Stories and Poems
What do you think? Is there a line that changed your idea about the poem? Did you go back and read it again? Do you think this is a major or a minor change? Does it add something or take away something or does it really make no difference to you?
Monday, February 22, 2016
Emily Dickinson: "Frequently the woods are pink--"
This poem, reflecting the change of seasons, is one of the most
accessible and understandable of her poems, at least it is for me. Of
course, it appears to be an early one, possibly composed as early as
1858, according to the editor, Thomas H. Johnson, which may account for
its unusual straightforwardness.
#6
Frequently the woods are pink --
Frequently are brown.
Frequently the hills undress
Behind my native town.
Oft a head is crested
I was wont to see --
And as oft a cranny
Where it used to be --
And the Earth -- they tell me --
On its Axis turned!
Wonderful rotation!
By but twelve performed!
-- Emily Dickinson --
from The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
#6
Frequently the woods are pink --
Frequently are brown.
Frequently the hills undress
Behind my native town.
Oft a head is crested
I was wont to see --
And as oft a cranny
Where it used to be --
And the Earth -- they tell me --
On its Axis turned!
Wonderful rotation!
By but twelve performed!
-- Emily Dickinson --
from The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Friday, February 19, 2016
Favorite DVDs viewed during 2015
Following are some of the DVDs that I watched during 2015. Since I don't watch TV, I have considerable time now to read and to watch films in the evening. Some of the DVDs I have viewed were originally TV shows that are now available at the local public library or on Netflix. While I might be a year or more behind the world on the TV shows, I figure I've actually gained time by not having to watch the commercials, whether they are marketing products or politicians.
FILMS
Foyle's War, S8.
A great mystery series set in England first during WWII and then during the Cold War. It's one of few "must watch" shows on TV. It's BBC, naturally.
Nemesis:
Another great TV series from BBC--featuring Agatha Christies's Miss Marple. I re-watched all of the Jane Marple episodes this year (with Joan Hickson naturally) and consider this one to be the best of a great series.
Murder on the Orient Express: (two versions)
This, of course, is based on Agatha Christie's novel of the same name. I watched the 1974 version and the recent (sorta) BBC version with David Suchet as Poirot. The two versions are quite different. The 1974 version has a cast list that almost empties out Hollywood and is much lighter in tone. It is the longer of the two versions, so it includes more of the story than the BBC version. The BBC version is much darker and shorter, so the questioning sessions of the suspects are shortened or eliminated.
Watch both.
Predestination:
This film is based on a short story by Robert A. Heinlein, "All You Zombies." I have no idea of the relevance of the title to the story, so don't ask me. It is very close to Heinlein's story, but it is set in a frame that has nothing to do with Heinlein's tale. However, the core of the main character's machinations through the use of time travel remains the same. All I will say is that the story, and therefore the film, plays games with the paradoxes of time travel to an extent almost unique in SF. The myth of the Ouroboros has come alive.
The Hound of the Baskervilles:
In a rut here. It's the BBC dramatization of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's best known Sherlock Holmes' novel, with Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke (naturally).
Again, I spent time re-watching many of the Brett versions during the past year and consider this to be the best of a great series. I have a few more to go, so there may be another one listed for 2016.
Solaris:
This is another one I've watched before and decided it was time for another viewing. It's based on Stanislaw Lem's enigmatic novel of the same name. It's an SF First Contact novel and film, but calling that doesn't do it justice. It's one of those films that needs and rewards several viewings. It's the version directed by A. Tarkovsky. There's another version out, and I will look around for it.
The Dirty Dozen:
A great fantasy war film that stars Lee Marvin, one of my favorites, along with Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson, Ernest Borgnine, John Cassavetes, Jim Brown. George Jaeckel, Richard Kennedy, and a host of other familiar names. Sheer fun. This is at least my second and probably my third viewing. I think the cast enjoyed making the film as much as viewers enjoyed watching it.
In Harm's Way:
Another WWII film set in the Pacific this time, rather than in Europe. It features John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Patricia Neal, Carroll O'Connor, George Kennedy (again), and a host of other familiar names. Great fun. And, no, it's not a guilty pleasure film, for I see no reason for feeling guilty about watching it. It's probably my third? fourth? viewing, and it won't be my last.
To Have and Have Not:
WWII again--the first film starring Bogart and Bacall. That says it all. Again, I've seen this one several times before and most likely will chalk up one or more viewings.
Tron:
Another re-watching. Special effects says it all. I watched the sequel, but I think they made a mistake when they moved closer to matching the real world and lost that startling digital effect.
DOCUMENTARIES
Glass: A Portrait of Philip Glass in Twelve Parts:
A documentary on the minimalist composer Philip Glass--a very well-done film on Glass and his compositions through the years. Major problem is that it's too short, as the good ones always seem to be.
Into Great Silence:
Life in a French Carthusian monastery--hypnotic, with images doing the talking.
It took sixteen ears for the German filmmaker Philip Groning to get permission to make the film, with certain conditions: no narration, no artificial lighting, and no crew. If one knows nothing about the Carthusian order, then a little research would be useful prior to viewing the film. The film is two hours and forty-nine minutes long, but it didn't seem that long to me.
History of World Literature:
A Teaching Company Production: a series of lectures on world literature which includes Asian, European, African, South American literatures. It inspired me to read The Dream of the Red Chamber (aka The Story of the Stone) last year. And, this year I will dust off my copy of The Tale of Genji. Again too short.
Comparative Religion:
Another Teaching Company Production. The title says it all--a comparison of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism--their differences and similarities.
Dark Energy:Dark Matter--
Yet another Teaching Company Production-cosmologists have come to the conclusion that estimates of the visible matter in the universe indicate there isn't enough to explain the makeup of the universe. So, they postulate a form of energy and a type of matter that are invisible in order to explain the composition of the universe and its increasing rate of expansion.
The Three Tenors: The Original Concert in Rome:
Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jose Carreras singing individually and together great arias and popular songs. A feast for the ears. The human voice at its best.
The first of several concerts.
The Seville Concert: John Williams
Great music for the guitar played by one of the best guitarists in the world. The visuals aren't bad either.
It must be significant that seven of the ten favorite dramas (not including documentaries) were actually a second or third or even a fourth viewing last year. What does this say about the more recent productions?
FILMS
Foyle's War, S8.
A great mystery series set in England first during WWII and then during the Cold War. It's one of few "must watch" shows on TV. It's BBC, naturally.
Nemesis:
Another great TV series from BBC--featuring Agatha Christies's Miss Marple. I re-watched all of the Jane Marple episodes this year (with Joan Hickson naturally) and consider this one to be the best of a great series.
Murder on the Orient Express: (two versions)
This, of course, is based on Agatha Christie's novel of the same name. I watched the 1974 version and the recent (sorta) BBC version with David Suchet as Poirot. The two versions are quite different. The 1974 version has a cast list that almost empties out Hollywood and is much lighter in tone. It is the longer of the two versions, so it includes more of the story than the BBC version. The BBC version is much darker and shorter, so the questioning sessions of the suspects are shortened or eliminated.
Watch both.
Predestination:
This film is based on a short story by Robert A. Heinlein, "All You Zombies." I have no idea of the relevance of the title to the story, so don't ask me. It is very close to Heinlein's story, but it is set in a frame that has nothing to do with Heinlein's tale. However, the core of the main character's machinations through the use of time travel remains the same. All I will say is that the story, and therefore the film, plays games with the paradoxes of time travel to an extent almost unique in SF. The myth of the Ouroboros has come alive.
The Hound of the Baskervilles:
In a rut here. It's the BBC dramatization of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's best known Sherlock Holmes' novel, with Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke (naturally).
Again, I spent time re-watching many of the Brett versions during the past year and consider this to be the best of a great series. I have a few more to go, so there may be another one listed for 2016.
Solaris:
This is another one I've watched before and decided it was time for another viewing. It's based on Stanislaw Lem's enigmatic novel of the same name. It's an SF First Contact novel and film, but calling that doesn't do it justice. It's one of those films that needs and rewards several viewings. It's the version directed by A. Tarkovsky. There's another version out, and I will look around for it.
The Dirty Dozen:
A great fantasy war film that stars Lee Marvin, one of my favorites, along with Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson, Ernest Borgnine, John Cassavetes, Jim Brown. George Jaeckel, Richard Kennedy, and a host of other familiar names. Sheer fun. This is at least my second and probably my third viewing. I think the cast enjoyed making the film as much as viewers enjoyed watching it.
In Harm's Way:
Another WWII film set in the Pacific this time, rather than in Europe. It features John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Patricia Neal, Carroll O'Connor, George Kennedy (again), and a host of other familiar names. Great fun. And, no, it's not a guilty pleasure film, for I see no reason for feeling guilty about watching it. It's probably my third? fourth? viewing, and it won't be my last.
To Have and Have Not:
WWII again--the first film starring Bogart and Bacall. That says it all. Again, I've seen this one several times before and most likely will chalk up one or more viewings.
Tron:
Another re-watching. Special effects says it all. I watched the sequel, but I think they made a mistake when they moved closer to matching the real world and lost that startling digital effect.
DOCUMENTARIES
Glass: A Portrait of Philip Glass in Twelve Parts:
A documentary on the minimalist composer Philip Glass--a very well-done film on Glass and his compositions through the years. Major problem is that it's too short, as the good ones always seem to be.
Into Great Silence:
Life in a French Carthusian monastery--hypnotic, with images doing the talking.
It took sixteen ears for the German filmmaker Philip Groning to get permission to make the film, with certain conditions: no narration, no artificial lighting, and no crew. If one knows nothing about the Carthusian order, then a little research would be useful prior to viewing the film. The film is two hours and forty-nine minutes long, but it didn't seem that long to me.
History of World Literature:
A Teaching Company Production: a series of lectures on world literature which includes Asian, European, African, South American literatures. It inspired me to read The Dream of the Red Chamber (aka The Story of the Stone) last year. And, this year I will dust off my copy of The Tale of Genji. Again too short.
Comparative Religion:
Another Teaching Company Production. The title says it all--a comparison of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism--their differences and similarities.
Dark Energy:Dark Matter--
Yet another Teaching Company Production-cosmologists have come to the conclusion that estimates of the visible matter in the universe indicate there isn't enough to explain the makeup of the universe. So, they postulate a form of energy and a type of matter that are invisible in order to explain the composition of the universe and its increasing rate of expansion.
The Three Tenors: The Original Concert in Rome:
Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jose Carreras singing individually and together great arias and popular songs. A feast for the ears. The human voice at its best.
The first of several concerts.
The Seville Concert: John Williams
Great music for the guitar played by one of the best guitarists in the world. The visuals aren't bad either.
It must be significant that seven of the ten favorite dramas (not including documentaries) were actually a second or third or even a fourth viewing last year. What does this say about the more recent productions?
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Kim Stanley Robinson: Aurora
Kim Stanley Robinson
Aurora
This will, no doubt, show up on my Favorite SF Novels List for 2016, as it's hard to believe more than ten novels will appear in the next ten months that are superior. Of course, it is Kim Stanley Robinson, who is one of my top SF writers just practicing his art. And, art it is.
Aurora tells the story of the voyage of a generation ship that is headed toward Tau Ceti, with several thousand humans aboard. The novel begins when the ship approaches Tau Ceti, some one hundred and sixty years, and seven generations, after it left Earth. Their mission is to plant a self-sustaining colony on one of the moons, which they have named Aurora, in the Tau Ceti solar system
While others may disagree with me, the generation ship is actually the main character. I think this way because the main plot involves the necessity of the survival of the generation ship, with a subplot about the slow growth of consciousness or self-awareness in a machine-based intelligence. In addition, the ship's AI is the narrator of the novel.
The humans in the ship have two main problems to resolve: one is the survival of the ship, which is slowly breaking down after one hundred and sixty plus years and the other is the need to maintain control over the human population which has known no other life than that confined to the ship. If the humans can't live together relatively harmoniously, then all are doomed. This turns out to be one of the many crises faced by the colonists, and it is resolved in a rather surprising (and potentially frightening) manner.
Kim Stanley Robinson must have done an incredible amount of research into the physical creation of the generation ship, along with the possible threats to the integrity of the ship from various chemical, biological, and mechanical sources.
He has also created a number of separate habitats, or biomes, each with its own climate, soil, and life forms. Part of the problem facing the ship's crew is maintaining those biomes, for they contain a myriad of living organisms, which must work together as they do here on Earth. And, those organisms are not static--they do evolve over time and not necessarily at the same rate, which poses additional problems.
Robinson also speculates on the psychological and emotional effects of life within a closed environment. Moreover, he asks a moral or ethical question I have never encountered in any generation ship story before, and to be honest, I have never asked this question myself. The first generation are volunteers, but the second? third? and so on. They were never asked whether they wanted to live this way. Is this a form of child abuse?
Rather surprisingly for an SF novel, near the end of the work one of the human colonists gives a speech in which he insists we will never be able to leave the solar system and successfully plant human colonies elsewhere, even in our own galaxy, much less anywhere else. He maintains this is impossible and provides a very strong argument in support. The opposing argument relies mainly on emotional issues.
This may be true today, but in the future? I was reminded of Clarke's First Law: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong." There are also numerous examples of scientists who first declared that it was impossible for a ship to leave the planet and others who argued we could never even reach the moon, much less land on it.
What is Robinson doing here? Is he really arguing against space travel and the possibility of living on other planets? This seems strange considering that his Mars trilogy, "RGB Mars" goes into such great detail about terraforming Mars. I wonder if, however, he is really arguing with a theme that seems prevalent in many SF stories today--that we have ruined Earth and our only hope is to go somewhere else. Perhaps Robinson is really saying that we should be concerned now with protecting the environment so that future generations won't have to leave in order for the human race to survive.
This is a must-read for all who see SF as something more than sheer and mere entertainment. There are ideas here to think about, which is true of all of Kim Stanley Robinson's works.
Aurora
This will, no doubt, show up on my Favorite SF Novels List for 2016, as it's hard to believe more than ten novels will appear in the next ten months that are superior. Of course, it is Kim Stanley Robinson, who is one of my top SF writers just practicing his art. And, art it is.
Aurora tells the story of the voyage of a generation ship that is headed toward Tau Ceti, with several thousand humans aboard. The novel begins when the ship approaches Tau Ceti, some one hundred and sixty years, and seven generations, after it left Earth. Their mission is to plant a self-sustaining colony on one of the moons, which they have named Aurora, in the Tau Ceti solar system
While others may disagree with me, the generation ship is actually the main character. I think this way because the main plot involves the necessity of the survival of the generation ship, with a subplot about the slow growth of consciousness or self-awareness in a machine-based intelligence. In addition, the ship's AI is the narrator of the novel.
The humans in the ship have two main problems to resolve: one is the survival of the ship, which is slowly breaking down after one hundred and sixty plus years and the other is the need to maintain control over the human population which has known no other life than that confined to the ship. If the humans can't live together relatively harmoniously, then all are doomed. This turns out to be one of the many crises faced by the colonists, and it is resolved in a rather surprising (and potentially frightening) manner.
Kim Stanley Robinson must have done an incredible amount of research into the physical creation of the generation ship, along with the possible threats to the integrity of the ship from various chemical, biological, and mechanical sources.
He has also created a number of separate habitats, or biomes, each with its own climate, soil, and life forms. Part of the problem facing the ship's crew is maintaining those biomes, for they contain a myriad of living organisms, which must work together as they do here on Earth. And, those organisms are not static--they do evolve over time and not necessarily at the same rate, which poses additional problems.
Robinson also speculates on the psychological and emotional effects of life within a closed environment. Moreover, he asks a moral or ethical question I have never encountered in any generation ship story before, and to be honest, I have never asked this question myself. The first generation are volunteers, but the second? third? and so on. They were never asked whether they wanted to live this way. Is this a form of child abuse?
Rather surprisingly for an SF novel, near the end of the work one of the human colonists gives a speech in which he insists we will never be able to leave the solar system and successfully plant human colonies elsewhere, even in our own galaxy, much less anywhere else. He maintains this is impossible and provides a very strong argument in support. The opposing argument relies mainly on emotional issues.
This may be true today, but in the future? I was reminded of Clarke's First Law: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong." There are also numerous examples of scientists who first declared that it was impossible for a ship to leave the planet and others who argued we could never even reach the moon, much less land on it.
What is Robinson doing here? Is he really arguing against space travel and the possibility of living on other planets? This seems strange considering that his Mars trilogy, "RGB Mars" goes into such great detail about terraforming Mars. I wonder if, however, he is really arguing with a theme that seems prevalent in many SF stories today--that we have ruined Earth and our only hope is to go somewhere else. Perhaps Robinson is really saying that we should be concerned now with protecting the environment so that future generations won't have to leave in order for the human race to survive.
This is a must-read for all who see SF as something more than sheer and mere entertainment. There are ideas here to think about, which is true of all of Kim Stanley Robinson's works.
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Eric Hoffer and dragons and devils
Eric Hoffer has a unique perspective on the interrelationships among devils, dragons, and humans. At least, it is unique as far as I'm concerned. I hadn't really read or heard anything like the inter-workings of the three as described by Hoffer.
18
"Man made God in his own image. In whose image did he make the devil? The devil with hoofs, tail, and horns is obviously a beast masquerading as a man. Does he, then, personify nature? Is there a confrontation--God and man on one side, the devil and nature on the other?
It is significant that where men live in awe of nature and see it as inexorable and inscrutable fate, nature is personified not in a devil but in a dragon. The dragon is a composite of the fearsome strengths and uncanny faculties of the animal world. Any piecing-together of parts of various animals result in something like a dragon. Vasari tells how the young Leonardo da Vinci, wanting to point something that would frighten everybody, brought to his room every sort of living creature he could lay his hands on and set out to paint a composite animal. "He produced an animal so horrible and fearful that it seemed to poison the air with its fiery breath. This he represented coming out of some dark broken rocks, with venom issuing from its jaws, fire from its eyes, and smoke from its nostrils. A monstrous and horrible thing indeed." In the course of time the dragon came to embody the menace and mystery of the whole nonhuman cosmos. "The dragon," says Kakuzo Akakuro, "unfolds himself in the storm clouds, he washes his mane in the blackness of the seething whirlpool. His claws are in the forks of lightning, and his scales begin to glisten in the bark of rainswept pine trees. His voice is heard in the hurricane." Since societies awed by nature tend to equate power with nature, they will invest omnipotent individuals--emperors, despots, warriors, sorcerers, etc. -- with the attributes of the dragon. Thus, unlike the devil, the dragon is a man masquerading as a beast.
The dragon is infinitely more ancient than the devil. The earliest representation of the dragon is the painting of the sorcerer in the cave of Trois Freres. This Late Paleolithic painting presents a sorcerer decked out as a composite animal with horns of a reindeer, the ears, of a wolf, the eyes of an owl, the paws of a bear, and the tail of a horse.
The devil is coetaneous with Jehovah, the God who is not nature but its creator. It was the feat of the ancient Hebrews that though without an advanced technology they lost their awe of nature, and saw it as man's task to "subdue the earth." And once man, backed by Jehovah or a potent technology, assumes a cocky attitude toward nature, the devil comes upon the scene and takes the place of the dragon. The devil personifies not the nature that is around us but the nature that is within us--the infinitely ferocious and cunning prehuman creature that is still with us, sealed in the subconscious cellars of the psyche.
Outside the Occident, where nature has the upper hand, the dragon is still supreme, but the Occident proper is the domain of the devil.
It is of interest that at his first appearance in the Garden of Eden, before clothes were invented, the devil came undisguised, and contrived the fall of man from a paradisaical existence. Nowadays the devil is decked out in the latest fashion, and quotes the latest scriptures.
We of the present are vividly aware that the slaying of the dragon is the opening act in a protracted, desperate contest with the devil. The triumphs of the scientist and the technologist are setting the stage for the psychiatrist and policemen. We also know that we can cope with the devil only by using the tension between that which is most human and nonhuman in us to stretch souls in a creative effort."
-- Eric Hoffer --
Reflections on the Human Condition
Any thoughts?
18
"Man made God in his own image. In whose image did he make the devil? The devil with hoofs, tail, and horns is obviously a beast masquerading as a man. Does he, then, personify nature? Is there a confrontation--God and man on one side, the devil and nature on the other?
It is significant that where men live in awe of nature and see it as inexorable and inscrutable fate, nature is personified not in a devil but in a dragon. The dragon is a composite of the fearsome strengths and uncanny faculties of the animal world. Any piecing-together of parts of various animals result in something like a dragon. Vasari tells how the young Leonardo da Vinci, wanting to point something that would frighten everybody, brought to his room every sort of living creature he could lay his hands on and set out to paint a composite animal. "He produced an animal so horrible and fearful that it seemed to poison the air with its fiery breath. This he represented coming out of some dark broken rocks, with venom issuing from its jaws, fire from its eyes, and smoke from its nostrils. A monstrous and horrible thing indeed." In the course of time the dragon came to embody the menace and mystery of the whole nonhuman cosmos. "The dragon," says Kakuzo Akakuro, "unfolds himself in the storm clouds, he washes his mane in the blackness of the seething whirlpool. His claws are in the forks of lightning, and his scales begin to glisten in the bark of rainswept pine trees. His voice is heard in the hurricane." Since societies awed by nature tend to equate power with nature, they will invest omnipotent individuals--emperors, despots, warriors, sorcerers, etc. -- with the attributes of the dragon. Thus, unlike the devil, the dragon is a man masquerading as a beast.
The dragon is infinitely more ancient than the devil. The earliest representation of the dragon is the painting of the sorcerer in the cave of Trois Freres. This Late Paleolithic painting presents a sorcerer decked out as a composite animal with horns of a reindeer, the ears, of a wolf, the eyes of an owl, the paws of a bear, and the tail of a horse.
The devil is coetaneous with Jehovah, the God who is not nature but its creator. It was the feat of the ancient Hebrews that though without an advanced technology they lost their awe of nature, and saw it as man's task to "subdue the earth." And once man, backed by Jehovah or a potent technology, assumes a cocky attitude toward nature, the devil comes upon the scene and takes the place of the dragon. The devil personifies not the nature that is around us but the nature that is within us--the infinitely ferocious and cunning prehuman creature that is still with us, sealed in the subconscious cellars of the psyche.
Outside the Occident, where nature has the upper hand, the dragon is still supreme, but the Occident proper is the domain of the devil.
It is of interest that at his first appearance in the Garden of Eden, before clothes were invented, the devil came undisguised, and contrived the fall of man from a paradisaical existence. Nowadays the devil is decked out in the latest fashion, and quotes the latest scriptures.
We of the present are vividly aware that the slaying of the dragon is the opening act in a protracted, desperate contest with the devil. The triumphs of the scientist and the technologist are setting the stage for the psychiatrist and policemen. We also know that we can cope with the devil only by using the tension between that which is most human and nonhuman in us to stretch souls in a creative effort."
-- Eric Hoffer --
Reflections on the Human Condition
Any thoughts?
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Favorite mystery novels read in 2015
The following is a list of my favorite mystery novels that I read in 2015. All but one of the authors were already on my search list and these most recent reads kept them there. There are others on my search list, of course, but I either didn't have time to read one by them last year or found that, while they were interesting enough to keep the author on my list for another read, they didn't make the top ten list. I added several authors to my search list this year, but only one was intriguing enough to make this list.
Barbara Nadel Body Count
Police procedural set in contemporary Turkey
Michael Stanley A Death in the Family
Police procedural set in contemporary Botswana
Steven Saylor Wrath of the Furies
PI series set in first century BC Rome
Peter Robinson In the Dark Places
Children of the Revolution
P. D. James Reread all of her novels
Police procedural set in contemporary Turkey
Michael Stanley A Death in the Family
Police procedural set in contemporary Botswana
Steven Saylor Wrath of the Furies
PI series set in first century BC Rome
Peter Robinson In the Dark Places
Children of the Revolution
Police procedural set in contemporary England
Eliot Pattison Soul of the Fire
ex-Chinese police officer solves crimes in contemporary Tibet
Karin Fossum The Drowned Boy
The Murder of Harriet Krohn
Police procedural set in contemporary Norway
Henning Mankell The Troubled Man
Police procedural set in contemporary SwedenEliot Pattison Soul of the Fire
ex-Chinese police officer solves crimes in contemporary Tibet
Karin Fossum The Drowned Boy
The Murder of Harriet Krohn
Police procedural set in contemporary Norway
Henning Mankell The Troubled Man
P. D. James Reread all of her novels
Police procedural set in contemporary England
C. J. Sansom Lamentation
Talented Amateur
A lawyer solves crimes in England during the reign of Henry VIII
Charles Todd A Fine Summer's Day
Police procedural set in post WWI England
The following is an author that I added to my search list in 2015.
Ben Winters The Last Policeman
Police procedural set in contemporary New Hampshire set against the background of an impending catasrophe: a meteor is going to hit the Earth in about six months. It's the first book in a trilogy.C. J. Sansom Lamentation
Talented Amateur
A lawyer solves crimes in England during the reign of Henry VIII
Charles Todd A Fine Summer's Day
Police procedural set in post WWI England
The following is an author that I added to my search list in 2015.
Ben Winters The Last Policeman
Saturday, February 6, 2016
The Rubaiyat: Second Edition, Quatrain LV
This quatrain is thematically linked with the previous quatrain and several of the following quatrains with its recommendation that wine is the best solution to the quandaries presented by our existence here.
SECOND EDITION: QUATRAIN LV
Oh, plagued no more with Human or Divine,
To-morrow's tangle to itself resign,
And lose your fingers in the tresses of
The Cypress-slender Minister of Wine.
FIFTH EDITION, QUATRAIN XLI
Perplext no more with Human or Divine,
To-morrow's tangle to the winds resign,
And lose your fingers in the tresses of
The Cypress-slender Minister of Wine.
One of the changes made between the Second and the Fifth Editions occurs early in the first line where "Oh, plagued" becomes "Perplext," where, instead of being bothered by the "Human of Divine," one is now confused by it. The second change takes place in the second line where the "To-morrow's tangle" is left to itself in the Second Edition and in the Fifth it is left to the winds. Since the winds will simply blow it away, that suggests the problem is insolvable whereas if it's left to itself, that hints that it may resolve itself.
In both quatrains the poet advises to leave the tangle be, although with differing consequences, and instead to become enamored of wine, the ultimate solution to all tangles, be they human or divine.
SECOND EDITION: QUATRAIN LV
Oh, plagued no more with Human or Divine,
To-morrow's tangle to itself resign,
And lose your fingers in the tresses of
The Cypress-slender Minister of Wine.
FIFTH EDITION, QUATRAIN XLI
Perplext no more with Human or Divine,
To-morrow's tangle to the winds resign,
And lose your fingers in the tresses of
The Cypress-slender Minister of Wine.
One of the changes made between the Second and the Fifth Editions occurs early in the first line where "Oh, plagued" becomes "Perplext," where, instead of being bothered by the "Human of Divine," one is now confused by it. The second change takes place in the second line where the "To-morrow's tangle" is left to itself in the Second Edition and in the Fifth it is left to the winds. Since the winds will simply blow it away, that suggests the problem is insolvable whereas if it's left to itself, that hints that it may resolve itself.
In both quatrains the poet advises to leave the tangle be, although with differing consequences, and instead to become enamored of wine, the ultimate solution to all tangles, be they human or divine.
Monday, February 1, 2016
Favorite novels read in 2015
The following is a list of the novels that I had read in 2015 that impressed me the most among all the others I had read.
NEW READS
Anthony Powell: A Dance to the Music of Time (twelve novels)
Sarah Orne Jewett: The Country of Pointed Firs and Other Stories
Harper Lee: Go Set a Watchman
Tsao Hsueh-chin: Dream of the Red Chamber (aka The Story of the Stone)
REREADS
Dostoyevsky: The Gambler, The Double, Notes from Underground
Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice
Balzac: The Black Sheep
Mikhail Bulgakov: Heart of a Dog
It doesn't appear to be a long list, but Anthony Powell's series consists of twelve novels.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Favorite SF novels read in 2015
The following is a list of those SF/F works that I read in 2015 and that stood out among the many other works that I had read. These will be read again, sometime in the future.
SCIENCE FICTION
First time readings
Robert Silverberg Downward to the Earth
Liu Cixin The Three-Body Problem
Emily St. John Mandel Station Eleven
Andy Weir The Martian
China Mieville Railsea
Ben Winters The Last Policeman
Andy Weir The Martian
China Mieville Railsea
Ben Winters The Last Policeman
Re-reads
Hal Clement Mission of Gravity
Hal Clement Mission of Gravity
Alfred Bester The Stars My Destination
Arthur C. Clarke Rendezvous with Rama
Gene Wolfe Nightside the Long Sun
David Brin The Uplift War
FANTASY
First Readings
Sofia Samatar A Stranger in Olondria
Russell Hoban Linger Awhile, Angelica Lost and Found, Soonchild
It's been a good year for SF/F as there are five new authors on the list.
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Robert Frost: "Dust of Snow"
This is a short poem by Robert Frost, but it speaks of something important--the way small or seemingly inconsequential events can affect us even though the event itself has really nothing in common with its effect. Why does this affect the narrator the way it does?
Dust of Snow
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
I think Frost's genius is in his ability to see the little things that are of real consequence though few of us see them at the time. His poetry isolates those moments, those events, and shows us what we have missed.
Perhaps next time we may be more observant.
Dust of Snow
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
I think Frost's genius is in his ability to see the little things that are of real consequence though few of us see them at the time. His poetry isolates those moments, those events, and shows us what we have missed.
Perhaps next time we may be more observant.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Emily Dickinson: a winter poem
Like Brooms of Steel
The Snow and Wind
Had swept the Winter Street--
The House was hooked
The Sun sent out
Faint Deputies of Heat--
Where rode the Bird
The Silence tied
His ample-plodding Steed
The Apple in the Cellar sang
Was all the one that played.
-- Emily Dickinson --
Poem No. 1252
from The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Edited by Thomas H. Johnson
Lean and spare, as are all of Emily Dickinson's poems. Having lived in Chicago, I know what those "Brooms of Steel" are like. The winds cut through anything one can wear, and only four walls can keep them out, mostly. And, even on a sunny, windless day, the sun's heat is barely noticeable. And the silence . . .
Thursday, January 7, 2016
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: 2nd Edition, Quatrain LIV
This is another of the quatrains that FitzGerald introduced in the Second Edition of his version of the Rubaiyat.
SECOND EDITION: QUATRAIN LIV
But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor
Of Earth, and up to Heav'n's unopening door,
You gaze To-Day, while You are You--how then
To-morrow, You when shall be You no more?
FIFTH EDITION: QUATRAIN LIII
But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor
Of Earth, and up to Heav'n's unopening door
You gaze To-Day, while You are You--how then
To-morrow, You when shall be You no more?
The only difference I can see between the two editions is the missing comma at the end of the second line in the Fifth Edition. Aside from that, the two versions are identical.
This quatrain seems to link the previous quatrains to several following quatrains. The previous series were of the Master who created the puppet show we are trapped in and hides from us, giving us at best only an occasional glimpse. We are asked here about the consequences of this situation--our ignorance
It's our ignorance regarding our fate and the refusal? inability? of both heaven and earth to answer our question. We search now, but tomorrow? What then, when we are no more. We get no answers while we are here and certainly no answers when we are no more.
SECOND EDITION: QUATRAIN LIV
But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor
Of Earth, and up to Heav'n's unopening door,
You gaze To-Day, while You are You--how then
To-morrow, You when shall be You no more?
FIFTH EDITION: QUATRAIN LIII
But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor
Of Earth, and up to Heav'n's unopening door
You gaze To-Day, while You are You--how then
To-morrow, You when shall be You no more?
The only difference I can see between the two editions is the missing comma at the end of the second line in the Fifth Edition. Aside from that, the two versions are identical.
This quatrain seems to link the previous quatrains to several following quatrains. The previous series were of the Master who created the puppet show we are trapped in and hides from us, giving us at best only an occasional glimpse. We are asked here about the consequences of this situation--our ignorance
It's our ignorance regarding our fate and the refusal? inability? of both heaven and earth to answer our question. We search now, but tomorrow? What then, when we are no more. We get no answers while we are here and certainly no answers when we are no more.
Saturday, January 2, 2016
A Passage and a Poem: David Abram and Wallace Stevens
I've mentioned this before, but I'll bring it up again because this is the basis for this particular post. I would be reading something, and a passage would immediately bring another book or passage or poem to mind. Sometimes the link would be obvious, while in others it would be remote or even invisible. This is the passage I was reading when the poem popped up, distracting me to the point I had to stop reading and muse on it for awhile.
Each thing organizes the space around it, rebuffing or sidling up against other things; each thing calls, gestures, beckons to other beings or battles them for our attentions; things expose themselves to the sun or retreat among the shadows, shouting with their loud colors or whispering with their seeds; rocks snag lichen spores from the air and shelter spiders under their flanks; clouds converse with the fathomless blue and metamorphose into one another; they spill rain upon the land, which gathers in rivulets and carves out canyons; skyscrapers slice the winds and argue with one another over the tops of townhouses; backhoes and songbirds are coaxed into duets by the percussive rhythm of the subway beneath the street. Things "catch our eye" and sometimes refuse to let go; they"grab our focus" and "capture our attention," and finally release us from their grasp only to dissolve back into the overabundant world. Whether ecstatic or morose, exuberant or exhausted, everything swerves and trembles; anguish, equanimity, and pleasure are not first internal moods but passions granted to us by the capricious terrain.
-- David Abram --
from Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology
This is the poem that immediately came to mind when I began the passage above.
Anecdote of the Jar
I placed a jar in Tennessee,
And round it was, upon a hill.
It made the slovenly wilderness
Surround that hill.
The wilderness rose up to it,
And sprawled around, no longer wild.
The jar was round upon the ground
And tall and of a port in air.
It took dominion everywhere.
The jar was gray and bare.
It did not give of bird or bush,
Like nothing else in Tennessee.
-- Wallace Stevens --
Well, anybody see the link here? Did you think of something else when you read the passage? If so, let me know. I would be interested in learning what memory that passage brought to mind.
One other question: what does the following sentence fragment suggest to you?
--anguish, equanimity, and pleasure are not first internal moods but passions granted to us by the capricious terrain.
Who is David Abram?
What is his book, Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology, about?
"'This is a book about becoming a two-legged animal, entirely a part of the animate world whose life swells within and unfolds all around us. It seeks a new way of speaking, one that enacts our interbeing with the earth rather than blinding us to it. A language that stirs a new humility in relation to other earthborn beings, whether spiders or obsidian outcrops or spruce limbs bent low by the clumped snow. A style of speech that opens our senses to the sensuous in all its multiform strangeness,' writes David Abram, a cultural ecologist and environmental philosopher."
For a little more about the book, go here: http://tinyurl.com/z3vyymp
Each thing organizes the space around it, rebuffing or sidling up against other things; each thing calls, gestures, beckons to other beings or battles them for our attentions; things expose themselves to the sun or retreat among the shadows, shouting with their loud colors or whispering with their seeds; rocks snag lichen spores from the air and shelter spiders under their flanks; clouds converse with the fathomless blue and metamorphose into one another; they spill rain upon the land, which gathers in rivulets and carves out canyons; skyscrapers slice the winds and argue with one another over the tops of townhouses; backhoes and songbirds are coaxed into duets by the percussive rhythm of the subway beneath the street. Things "catch our eye" and sometimes refuse to let go; they"grab our focus" and "capture our attention," and finally release us from their grasp only to dissolve back into the overabundant world. Whether ecstatic or morose, exuberant or exhausted, everything swerves and trembles; anguish, equanimity, and pleasure are not first internal moods but passions granted to us by the capricious terrain.
-- David Abram --
from Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology
This is the poem that immediately came to mind when I began the passage above.
Anecdote of the Jar
I placed a jar in Tennessee,
And round it was, upon a hill.
It made the slovenly wilderness
Surround that hill.
The wilderness rose up to it,
And sprawled around, no longer wild.
The jar was round upon the ground
And tall and of a port in air.
It took dominion everywhere.
The jar was gray and bare.
It did not give of bird or bush,
Like nothing else in Tennessee.
-- Wallace Stevens --
Well, anybody see the link here? Did you think of something else when you read the passage? If so, let me know. I would be interested in learning what memory that passage brought to mind.
One other question: what does the following sentence fragment suggest to you?
--anguish, equanimity, and pleasure are not first internal moods but passions granted to us by the capricious terrain.
Who is David Abram?
"David
Abram is an American philosopher, cultural ecologist, and performance
artist, best known for his work bridging the philosophical tradition of
phenomenology with environmental and ecological issues. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Abram
What is his book, Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology, about?
"'This is a book about becoming a two-legged animal, entirely a part of the animate world whose life swells within and unfolds all around us. It seeks a new way of speaking, one that enacts our interbeing with the earth rather than blinding us to it. A language that stirs a new humility in relation to other earthborn beings, whether spiders or obsidian outcrops or spruce limbs bent low by the clumped snow. A style of speech that opens our senses to the sensuous in all its multiform strangeness,' writes David Abram, a cultural ecologist and environmental philosopher."
For a little more about the book, go here: http://tinyurl.com/z3vyymp
Saturday, December 26, 2015
Gregory Benford: two short stories from the Galactic Center Universe
The Galactic Center series consists of six novels, ranging in time from the late 1990s to 30,000+ years in the future, and from Earth to the center of our galaxy. To be brief, it is the story of the war between the Mech civilization, ruled by almost godlike AIs, and all organic life forms, especially the sentient species, including humanity. In the 30,000+ years, humanity has managed, in spite of the conflict, to spread throughout the galaxy, including locations close to the black hole at the galaxy's center.
Gregory Benford to this point actually has written three short stories set in the Galactic Center universe. One, "Hunger for the Infinite," published in Far Horizons, edited by Robert Silverberg, explores the Mantis' obsession with the inexplicable human propensity for art. I have posted a very brief commentary which can be found at this address: http://tinyurl.com/p4a7gkj
The other two stories, "Aspects" and "At the Double Solstice," are set on Snowglade, the setting for the third novel in the series, Great Sky River. While the stories do not have dates, internal evidence in the stories indicate that "Aspects" takes place a decade or more after the end of events in Great Sky River, while "At the Double Solstice" is set many decades later.
The third novel in the series, Great Sky River, is the story of the Bishop clan's struggle to survive after the destruction of their civilization on the planet Snowglade. (For more detailed information, see my post at http://tinyurl.com/gu7gd2h.) The two stories are set after the conclusion to the novel Great Sky River and follows those members of the Bishop clan who did not follow Killeen Bishop.
Both stories open with a battle with several mechs, in which one or more humans are killed. Eventually the mech (possibly a lancer or a marauder or worse, a mantis type) is also destroyed. However, the cost to the humans is far greater in that they have now lost irreplaceable knowledge and experience, while the mech factories can simply turn out one or two or more marauders. This battle is followed by the discovery of a mech production facility which the Bishops attack. They grab what nutrients and equipment that can be easily carried and leave before more mechs arrive.
While the pattern here is similar, the third element demonstrates that a change has taken place in the thinking of the Bishop clan. In both stories, the humans come across a human artifact, a large structure whose purpose has long since been forgotten. In "Aspects," the humans are happy to find such a place: "We built it," a younger said. "We made something...beautiful." They rest there and discover that it's a cache, a storehouse of information from the past which will help them survive in their struggle with the mechs. Some of them were old enough to have lived in their great cities and consider it a Golden Age. They would go back, instantly, if they had the opportunity.
In "At the double solstice," decades? later, however, the reaction to the structure is quite different. The Bishops have difficulty in believing humans could ever have built such a mechlike thing. Only the mechs created things that were rigid, with corners and straight lines. Natural things were very different, far superior, and their way was the best way.
.
"If humanity had been mechlike in the far past, even to the point of making things of stone that trapped feeling. . .Agaden curled his lip. If that was true, then he felt no reverence for those benighted ancestors. He was suddenly glad to live in a holier and wiser time. Humanity today knew the true division between the sweet passing beauties of things human, and the cruel hard mech ways."
What began as a necessity for survival has now been transformed into the best way for humanity. The Bishops have adopted the nomadic way, not as a bitter choice for survival, but now as the best way, the holiest course for humans. They now have the disdain that all true nomads have for fixed, artificial structures and a settled way of life.
Truth in whateveritis: I have received free digital copies of both short stories.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Jack Finney: About Time (short stories)
Jack Finney
About Time
About Time is a collection of short stories, many of which, unsurprisingly, focus on time. It is a quiet, relaxing collection of tales, some tragic, some arguing that this really is a just universe, and others with a more cheerful resolution, but all entertaining.
"The Third Level"
This may be his most well-known short story or at least it's the one I most often remember reading in various anthologies.
The presidents of the New York Central and the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroads will swear on a stack of timetables that there are only two. But I say there are three, because I've been on the third level at Grand Central Station."
I think you can extrapolate from these opening lines the nature of the tale. It's something many, including me, have indulged in, what the psychiatrist later in the tale tells him is a "waking-dream wish fulfillment." It's a very enjoyable tale, which I never skip whenever I encounter it, unlike so many other tales, even though I know the twist at the end.
=====
"I Love Galesburg in the Springtime"
Something strange is happening in Galesburg, Illinois. A business man from Chicago came to town to build a factory, which would have meant tearing down some very old buildings and increasing traffic along some quiet residential streets. He had the town council's promise to make the necessary zoning changes and was ready to build. Then, one night, he goes for a walk down a quiet street and almost gets run down by a streetcar, or so he says. The problem is that there are no longer any streetcar tracks because the streetcars disappeared years ago. Was he drunk? Hallucinating? In any case, the deal is off. No factory will be built, by him anyway.
And, what about the old, old mansion that didn't burn down because the fire was put out by someone, only no one will claim credit for it. However, a neighbor who was obviously dreaming at the time tells a story that the fire was put out by the fire department which used horse-drawn fire engines. Of course, those engines had been retired years ago. It's unfortunate that the place didn't burn down, says local developer, because if it had, he would buy the property and get it rezoned for an apartment building. But, now, it would cost too much to tear it down, almost as much as to restore it, in fact.
And, those fine old elms on Cedar Street won't be cut down after all, or at least not for some time, because the man who had the power saw and had planned to cut them down is in the hospital with a broken leg. He was run down by a car that hadn't been made for many decades. It's appearance is so striking, the police are sure they will find the car involved in the hit-and-run accident very soon.
Perhaps. . .
=====
"Such Interesting Neighbors"
This is one of the classic themes in time travel stories. Anyone who has read a number of time travel stories will figure this one out within the first couple of paragraphs. New neighbors appear: they seem to lack knowledge of the simplest things, they have a strange accent, and they are vague about where they came from. They also have some interesting ideas about what the future will be like.
Enuf said?
=====
"The Coin Collector"
Ever wonder what would have happened if you had made a different decision, such as not going to college or going to college, or married someone else. "The Coin Collector" suggests one way of handling the problem--find an alternative universe. Finney later expanded this into a novel titled The Woodrow Wilson Dime.
Al's marriage is suffering a bit--loss of interest on his part--and his wife is getting upset at the way he seemingly pays her little or no attention. An ad about the fun and profit that can result from coin collecting intrigues him for a time. After making a routine purchase of a paper at the newsstand, he finds himself in a slightly different universe. It was the coin that triggered the transfer--well, the coin and his recognition of it as being different somehow.
Fortunately, habit guides him to his home which is in a different location. There he discovers that something else is different--his wife. She is someone he never met in the other world, and she is gorgeous. His interest in her reawakens her interest in him--same problem as in his other world. His gradual lack of interest (the honeymoon is over, he told his first wife) caused her to react the same way his first wife did.
However, after a brief period, his interest begins to wane and . . . and then . . .
=====
"Of Missing Persons"
What happened to Judge Crater and Ambrose Bierce? Charlie Ewell thinks he found out. What seems fascinating and possible after a couple of beers and late in the evening seems quite different in the bright light of the next day. But, Charlie is curious, so he decides to visit the Acme Travel Bureau anyway. If they decide he's the "right type," they will bring out a folder from beneath the counter, a folder they just made up as a joke. It's about a trip, one-way, to a planet called Verna. Why go to Verna?
Life is simple there, and it's serene. In someways, the good ways, it's like the early pioneering communities here in your country, but without the drudgery that kill people young. There is electricity. There are washing machines, vacuum cleaners, plumbing, modern bathrooms, and modern medicine, very modern. but there are no radios, television, telephones or automobiles. Distances are small. and people live and work in small communities. They raise or make most of the things they use. Every man builds his own house, with all the help he needs from his neighbors. Their recreation is their own, and there is a great deal of it, but there is no recreation for sale, nothing you buy a ticket to. They have dances, card parties, wedding, christenings, birthday celebrations harvest parties. There are swimming and sports of all kinds. There is conversation, a lot of it, plenty of joking and laughter. There is a great deal of visiting and sharing of meals and each day is well filled and well spent. There are no pressures, economic or social, and life holds few threats. Every man, woman,and child is a happy person.
It almost sounds too good to be true, and that's what bothers Charlie.
=====
"Lunch-Hour Magic"
Ted likes to go prowling around the various little shops in the vicinity during his lunch hour. Then, one day, he discovers a little store he hadn't seen before--The Magic Shop. Inside, he finds the usual merchandise expected in a "magic shop,". . . except for a pair of magic glasses. These glasses allow one to see through one layer of cloth. With them he can see people outside walking around in their underwear. Naturally he asks if there are stronger glasses, one that could see through two or three layers of clothing. The store owner says that he gets a lot of requests for those glasses, and he will ask the salesman the next time he comes in.
On subsequent trips Ted discovers other "helpful" items, and he tries them out on his fellow employees, who are helpless against the power of those talismans. All goes well, until Ted discovers that Frieda, a fellow employee, is also a lunchtime prowler and has discovered The Magic Shop.
=====
"Where the Cluetts Are"
Harry is an architect, who has some strange ideas about houses--they have souls--and he doesn't work with clients who really aren't interested in working with him in designing their home. The Cluetts are rich and have decided there are no limits on the cost of building their new home.
The problem is that the Cluetts are not interested that much in building a home, but in building a showpiece for their yacht-building business. They will live mostly in New York City and only spend time in the house, throwing grand parties for the rich and influential. In this way, they hope to make an impression on the rich and influential so that when they are interested in getting a yacht, they will remember the Cluetts.
Harry has just about decided that he's not going to take them on as clients when Ellie Cluett discovers a set of blueprints for a Victorian era house designed by Harry's grandfather. Sam and Ellie fall in love with the house instantly and tell Harry to build it, regardless of the cost.
All goes well and the house is built, but then. . .
I think the title is wrong.
=====
"The Face in the Photo"
Inspector Ihren is a very determined and persistent police officer. So, when a number of petty crooks, suspects in various crimes, can't be found, he gets upset. What upsets him most is that they seem to have completely disappeared and for a long period of time. Inspector Ihren knows that they have hiding places and can stay hidden for a while, but for many months? Not a clue, whisper, rumor, gossip? Something is wrong.
Then, one day, he discovers an old photograph with a familiar face and acting on a hunch, he begins viewing old films about sporting events and discovers another face. But this suggests something that is inconceivable. However, the projectionist makes an offhand comment about someone else who just viewed that film--a Professor Weygand from the university. A bit of nosing around and the Inspector discovers the good professor gave a paper recently about some aspects of time, and while he didn't understand most of the paper, the inspector got the idea that the professor thought time travel might be possible.
Perhaps it was time to talk to the professor.
=====
"I'm Scared"
Unlike Charles Fort who collected information about strange and inexplicable happenings that seemed unconnected and that had no apparent effect on the world, the anonymous narrator in this story finds that his collection of odd and anomalous events may point to something far more serious. It almost seems as though people and events sometimes come loose from their appointed place in time and appear elsewhen, sometimes with tragic results. And, they are happening more often lately.
=====
"Home Alone"
Charley is home alone as his wife and daughter are off somewhere. On the sixth day he glances upwards and sees a hawk in the sky, motionless as it lays on the updraft from the warm concrete below. Suddenly Charley wants to do just that: not fly in a powered plane but just hang there quietly and see what's below. And, the only way to do that is with a balloon. So, Charley begins to study up on balloons and then decides to make one.
Sometimes one's dreams do come true . . .
=====
"Second Chance"
The anonymous narrator is a young man who is obsessed with a classic automobile: the Jordan Playboy. He finds one, battered and beaten, and spends most of his time (left over from school, chores, and part-time job) restoring it. Finished, he takes it out for a drive along a deserted stretch of an old two-lane road that's been bypassed by the new four lane highway. And, then some strange things begin to happen. But, the strangest doesn't happen until months later, long after his first (and ultimately last) jaunt in the restored Jordan Playboy.
It's too bad the universe isn't really like this.
=====
"Hey, Look At Me!"
Peter Marks may have discovered why some people come back as ghosts.
This is not a book to be raced through and then put aside. It is best taken in small doses and savored before moving on to the next tale, a few days or weeks later. It has a long shelf life and won't spoil if ignored for a day or two or three. Read each story and then let your mind play with it for a while.
About Time
About Time is a collection of short stories, many of which, unsurprisingly, focus on time. It is a quiet, relaxing collection of tales, some tragic, some arguing that this really is a just universe, and others with a more cheerful resolution, but all entertaining.
"The Third Level"
This may be his most well-known short story or at least it's the one I most often remember reading in various anthologies.
The presidents of the New York Central and the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroads will swear on a stack of timetables that there are only two. But I say there are three, because I've been on the third level at Grand Central Station."
I think you can extrapolate from these opening lines the nature of the tale. It's something many, including me, have indulged in, what the psychiatrist later in the tale tells him is a "waking-dream wish fulfillment." It's a very enjoyable tale, which I never skip whenever I encounter it, unlike so many other tales, even though I know the twist at the end.
=====
"I Love Galesburg in the Springtime"
Something strange is happening in Galesburg, Illinois. A business man from Chicago came to town to build a factory, which would have meant tearing down some very old buildings and increasing traffic along some quiet residential streets. He had the town council's promise to make the necessary zoning changes and was ready to build. Then, one night, he goes for a walk down a quiet street and almost gets run down by a streetcar, or so he says. The problem is that there are no longer any streetcar tracks because the streetcars disappeared years ago. Was he drunk? Hallucinating? In any case, the deal is off. No factory will be built, by him anyway.
And, what about the old, old mansion that didn't burn down because the fire was put out by someone, only no one will claim credit for it. However, a neighbor who was obviously dreaming at the time tells a story that the fire was put out by the fire department which used horse-drawn fire engines. Of course, those engines had been retired years ago. It's unfortunate that the place didn't burn down, says local developer, because if it had, he would buy the property and get it rezoned for an apartment building. But, now, it would cost too much to tear it down, almost as much as to restore it, in fact.
And, those fine old elms on Cedar Street won't be cut down after all, or at least not for some time, because the man who had the power saw and had planned to cut them down is in the hospital with a broken leg. He was run down by a car that hadn't been made for many decades. It's appearance is so striking, the police are sure they will find the car involved in the hit-and-run accident very soon.
Perhaps. . .
=====
"Such Interesting Neighbors"
This is one of the classic themes in time travel stories. Anyone who has read a number of time travel stories will figure this one out within the first couple of paragraphs. New neighbors appear: they seem to lack knowledge of the simplest things, they have a strange accent, and they are vague about where they came from. They also have some interesting ideas about what the future will be like.
Enuf said?
=====
"The Coin Collector"
Ever wonder what would have happened if you had made a different decision, such as not going to college or going to college, or married someone else. "The Coin Collector" suggests one way of handling the problem--find an alternative universe. Finney later expanded this into a novel titled The Woodrow Wilson Dime.
Al's marriage is suffering a bit--loss of interest on his part--and his wife is getting upset at the way he seemingly pays her little or no attention. An ad about the fun and profit that can result from coin collecting intrigues him for a time. After making a routine purchase of a paper at the newsstand, he finds himself in a slightly different universe. It was the coin that triggered the transfer--well, the coin and his recognition of it as being different somehow.
Fortunately, habit guides him to his home which is in a different location. There he discovers that something else is different--his wife. She is someone he never met in the other world, and she is gorgeous. His interest in her reawakens her interest in him--same problem as in his other world. His gradual lack of interest (the honeymoon is over, he told his first wife) caused her to react the same way his first wife did.
However, after a brief period, his interest begins to wane and . . . and then . . .
=====
"Of Missing Persons"
What happened to Judge Crater and Ambrose Bierce? Charlie Ewell thinks he found out. What seems fascinating and possible after a couple of beers and late in the evening seems quite different in the bright light of the next day. But, Charlie is curious, so he decides to visit the Acme Travel Bureau anyway. If they decide he's the "right type," they will bring out a folder from beneath the counter, a folder they just made up as a joke. It's about a trip, one-way, to a planet called Verna. Why go to Verna?
Life is simple there, and it's serene. In someways, the good ways, it's like the early pioneering communities here in your country, but without the drudgery that kill people young. There is electricity. There are washing machines, vacuum cleaners, plumbing, modern bathrooms, and modern medicine, very modern. but there are no radios, television, telephones or automobiles. Distances are small. and people live and work in small communities. They raise or make most of the things they use. Every man builds his own house, with all the help he needs from his neighbors. Their recreation is their own, and there is a great deal of it, but there is no recreation for sale, nothing you buy a ticket to. They have dances, card parties, wedding, christenings, birthday celebrations harvest parties. There are swimming and sports of all kinds. There is conversation, a lot of it, plenty of joking and laughter. There is a great deal of visiting and sharing of meals and each day is well filled and well spent. There are no pressures, economic or social, and life holds few threats. Every man, woman,and child is a happy person.
It almost sounds too good to be true, and that's what bothers Charlie.
=====
"Lunch-Hour Magic"
Ted likes to go prowling around the various little shops in the vicinity during his lunch hour. Then, one day, he discovers a little store he hadn't seen before--The Magic Shop. Inside, he finds the usual merchandise expected in a "magic shop,". . . except for a pair of magic glasses. These glasses allow one to see through one layer of cloth. With them he can see people outside walking around in their underwear. Naturally he asks if there are stronger glasses, one that could see through two or three layers of clothing. The store owner says that he gets a lot of requests for those glasses, and he will ask the salesman the next time he comes in.
On subsequent trips Ted discovers other "helpful" items, and he tries them out on his fellow employees, who are helpless against the power of those talismans. All goes well, until Ted discovers that Frieda, a fellow employee, is also a lunchtime prowler and has discovered The Magic Shop.
=====
"Where the Cluetts Are"
Harry is an architect, who has some strange ideas about houses--they have souls--and he doesn't work with clients who really aren't interested in working with him in designing their home. The Cluetts are rich and have decided there are no limits on the cost of building their new home.
The problem is that the Cluetts are not interested that much in building a home, but in building a showpiece for their yacht-building business. They will live mostly in New York City and only spend time in the house, throwing grand parties for the rich and influential. In this way, they hope to make an impression on the rich and influential so that when they are interested in getting a yacht, they will remember the Cluetts.
Harry has just about decided that he's not going to take them on as clients when Ellie Cluett discovers a set of blueprints for a Victorian era house designed by Harry's grandfather. Sam and Ellie fall in love with the house instantly and tell Harry to build it, regardless of the cost.
All goes well and the house is built, but then. . .
I think the title is wrong.
=====
"The Face in the Photo"
Inspector Ihren is a very determined and persistent police officer. So, when a number of petty crooks, suspects in various crimes, can't be found, he gets upset. What upsets him most is that they seem to have completely disappeared and for a long period of time. Inspector Ihren knows that they have hiding places and can stay hidden for a while, but for many months? Not a clue, whisper, rumor, gossip? Something is wrong.
Then, one day, he discovers an old photograph with a familiar face and acting on a hunch, he begins viewing old films about sporting events and discovers another face. But this suggests something that is inconceivable. However, the projectionist makes an offhand comment about someone else who just viewed that film--a Professor Weygand from the university. A bit of nosing around and the Inspector discovers the good professor gave a paper recently about some aspects of time, and while he didn't understand most of the paper, the inspector got the idea that the professor thought time travel might be possible.
Perhaps it was time to talk to the professor.
=====
"I'm Scared"
Unlike Charles Fort who collected information about strange and inexplicable happenings that seemed unconnected and that had no apparent effect on the world, the anonymous narrator in this story finds that his collection of odd and anomalous events may point to something far more serious. It almost seems as though people and events sometimes come loose from their appointed place in time and appear elsewhen, sometimes with tragic results. And, they are happening more often lately.
=====
"Home Alone"
Charley is home alone as his wife and daughter are off somewhere. On the sixth day he glances upwards and sees a hawk in the sky, motionless as it lays on the updraft from the warm concrete below. Suddenly Charley wants to do just that: not fly in a powered plane but just hang there quietly and see what's below. And, the only way to do that is with a balloon. So, Charley begins to study up on balloons and then decides to make one.
Sometimes one's dreams do come true . . .
=====
"Second Chance"
The anonymous narrator is a young man who is obsessed with a classic automobile: the Jordan Playboy. He finds one, battered and beaten, and spends most of his time (left over from school, chores, and part-time job) restoring it. Finished, he takes it out for a drive along a deserted stretch of an old two-lane road that's been bypassed by the new four lane highway. And, then some strange things begin to happen. But, the strangest doesn't happen until months later, long after his first (and ultimately last) jaunt in the restored Jordan Playboy.
It's too bad the universe isn't really like this.
=====
"Hey, Look At Me!"
Peter Marks may have discovered why some people come back as ghosts.
This is not a book to be raced through and then put aside. It is best taken in small doses and savored before moving on to the next tale, a few days or weeks later. It has a long shelf life and won't spoil if ignored for a day or two or three. Read each story and then let your mind play with it for a while.
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Robert Grudin: Time and the Art of Living
III.8
"One need only to try to remember the dishes one ate for dinner on each night of the week past to realize that the things we desire as future and enjoy as present are not necessarily the things we value for all time. In this sense memory sits like an incorruptible judge, oblivious to the minor pains and pleasures of the past even as we unreasonably overvalue identical pains and pleasures in the present and future."
Remember dinners for the past week? I have problems remembering one dinner from the past week, or even a few days ago. It is sobering, though, when I think of the times I have gone out, looking forward to a special meal at a restaurant, and now look back and try to remember when I went to that restaurant and what I had there.
Grudin also calls memory "an incorruptible judge" and seems to imply that it judges what's really important and what isn't. That would mean that I remember only those things that are important and forget only those that aren't. Yet when I do remember something that I haven't thought of in years, I am frequently perplexed as to why that has remained in my memory as it seems so inconsequential, so unimportant.
I think it was Pascal who said " "The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of." Well, maybe memory has its reasons also.
The things you remember--are they always the important things?
"One need only to try to remember the dishes one ate for dinner on each night of the week past to realize that the things we desire as future and enjoy as present are not necessarily the things we value for all time. In this sense memory sits like an incorruptible judge, oblivious to the minor pains and pleasures of the past even as we unreasonably overvalue identical pains and pleasures in the present and future."
Remember dinners for the past week? I have problems remembering one dinner from the past week, or even a few days ago. It is sobering, though, when I think of the times I have gone out, looking forward to a special meal at a restaurant, and now look back and try to remember when I went to that restaurant and what I had there.
Grudin also calls memory "an incorruptible judge" and seems to imply that it judges what's really important and what isn't. That would mean that I remember only those things that are important and forget only those that aren't. Yet when I do remember something that I haven't thought of in years, I am frequently perplexed as to why that has remained in my memory as it seems so inconsequential, so unimportant.
I think it was Pascal who said " "The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of." Well, maybe memory has its reasons also.
The things you remember--are they always the important things?
Monday, December 7, 2015
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Second Edition, Quatrain LIII
This is another of the quatrains that first appeared in the Second Edition.
Second Edition: Quatrain LIII
A moment guess'd--then back behind the Fold
Immerst of Darkness round the Drama roll'd
Which, for the Pastime of Eternity,
He does Himself contrive, enact, and behold.
Fifth Edition: Quatrain LII
A moment guess'd--then back behind the Fold
Immerst of Darkness round the Drama roll'd
Which, for the Pastime of Eternity,
He doth Himself contrive, enact, and behold.
As far as I can tell, there's only one minor difference between the Second and Fifth Editions: "does" in the Second becomes "doth" in the Fifth Edition. Why? Perhaps he prefers the more Biblical or at least archaic sounding "doth" to the more contemporary "does."
This is the fourth in a series of linked quatrains that began with Quatrain L. It's "The Master" who takes all shapes throughout Creation and then retreats back into the "Darkness." The Master is the Dramatist who creates, enacts, and then watches the drama unfold.
It's a bleak answer to the perennial questions that have plagued humanity from the beginning: why are we here? where did we come from, and where are we going? Is there a design or is it all chance?
We are mere puppets, created to entertain The Master, to ease the boredom of eternity or the loneliness of being a solitary being. This certainly relieves the burden placed upon us by some who insist that this immense, incredible universe was created solely as a testing ground for us, a means of determining whether we shall spend eternity in divine bliss or cursed by divine displeasure. If we are just puppets, created for entertainment, then eating, drinking, and making merry seems a reasonable course of action.
Second Edition: Quatrain LIII
A moment guess'd--then back behind the Fold
Immerst of Darkness round the Drama roll'd
Which, for the Pastime of Eternity,
He does Himself contrive, enact, and behold.
Fifth Edition: Quatrain LII
A moment guess'd--then back behind the Fold
Immerst of Darkness round the Drama roll'd
Which, for the Pastime of Eternity,
He doth Himself contrive, enact, and behold.
As far as I can tell, there's only one minor difference between the Second and Fifth Editions: "does" in the Second becomes "doth" in the Fifth Edition. Why? Perhaps he prefers the more Biblical or at least archaic sounding "doth" to the more contemporary "does."
This is the fourth in a series of linked quatrains that began with Quatrain L. It's "The Master" who takes all shapes throughout Creation and then retreats back into the "Darkness." The Master is the Dramatist who creates, enacts, and then watches the drama unfold.
It's a bleak answer to the perennial questions that have plagued humanity from the beginning: why are we here? where did we come from, and where are we going? Is there a design or is it all chance?
We are mere puppets, created to entertain The Master, to ease the boredom of eternity or the loneliness of being a solitary being. This certainly relieves the burden placed upon us by some who insist that this immense, incredible universe was created solely as a testing ground for us, a means of determining whether we shall spend eternity in divine bliss or cursed by divine displeasure. If we are just puppets, created for entertainment, then eating, drinking, and making merry seems a reasonable course of action.
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Jorge Luis Borges: "Ars Poetica"
To gaze at the river made of time and water
And recall that time itself is another river,
To know we cease to be, just like the river,
And that our faces pass away, just like the water.
To feel that waking is another sleep
That dreams it does not sleep and that death,
Which our flesh dreads, is that very death
Of every night, which we call sleep.
To see in the day or in the year a symbol
Of mankind’s days and of his years,
To transform the outrage of the years
Into a music, a rumor and a symbol,
To see in death a sleep, and in the sunset
A sad gold, of such is Poetry
Immortal and a pauper. For Poetry
Returns like the dawn and the sunset.
At times in the afternoons a face
Looks at us from the depths of a mirror;
Art must be like that mirror
That reveals to us this face of ours.
They tell how Ulysses, glutted with wonders,
Wept with love to descry his Ithaca
Humble and green. Art is that Ithaca
Of green eternity, not of wonders.
It is also like an endless river
That passes and remains, a mirror for one same
Inconstant Heraclitus, who is the same
And another, like an endless river.
-- Jorge Luis Borges --
From Dreamtigers, translated by Harold Morland
What does art do? Is it just a way of dealing with death or is there more to it than that? If we were immortal, would there be art?
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Carl Sandburg: "From the Shore"
Here's one from Carl Sandburg that caught my eye as I was browsing through a collection of his poetry.
From the Shore
A lone grey bird,
Dim-dipping, far-flying,
Alone in the shadows and grandeurs and tumults
Of night and the sea
And the stars and storms.
Out over the darkness it wavers and hovers,
Out into the gloom it swings and batters,
Out into the wind and the rain and the vast,
Out into the pit of a great black world,
Where fogs are at battle, sky-driven, sea-blown,
Love of mist and rapture of flight,
Glories of chance and hazards of death
On its eager and palpitant wings.
Out into the deep of the great dark world,
Beyond the long borders where foam and drift
Of the sundering waves are lost and gone
On the tides that plunge and rear and crumble.
-- Carl Sandburg --
The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg
I have always envied birds for they live in three dimensions while I'm trapped in two. Yes, I know about airplanes, but I am a fearful-flyer, a control problem, I suspect. But I never really considered very deeply just what it means to be able to fly and just what it is like, especially during those times when there are no soft winds and a blue sky and a safe landing below--at least, that is, until I read Sandburg's poem.
The use of alliteration and the hyphenated adjectives reminds me of some Old English poems that I have read, Beowulf being one and others--"The Seafarer" for example. This is a brief quotation and one appropriate I think:
All I ever heard along the ice-way
was sounding sea, the gannet's shanty
whooper and curlew calls and mewling gull
were all my gaming, mead and mirth
At tempest-tested granite crags
the ice-winged tern would taunt
spray-feathered ospreys overhead
would soar and scream. . .
-- Anon --
Online translation of "The Seafarer" by Charles Harrison-Wallace.
And, of course, there's always a haiku that strikes a similar note.
Grey marsh, black cloud. . .
Flapping away in autumn
Last old slow heron
-- Anon --
A Little Treasury of Haiku
Trans. Peter Beilenson
I read somewhere (wish I could remember who said this) that a poem should make you see something new or see something old in a new way. I think Sandburg has succeeded here.
Has he succeeded with you?
From the Shore
A lone grey bird,
Dim-dipping, far-flying,
Alone in the shadows and grandeurs and tumults
Of night and the sea
And the stars and storms.
Out over the darkness it wavers and hovers,
Out into the gloom it swings and batters,
Out into the wind and the rain and the vast,
Out into the pit of a great black world,
Where fogs are at battle, sky-driven, sea-blown,
Love of mist and rapture of flight,
Glories of chance and hazards of death
On its eager and palpitant wings.
Out into the deep of the great dark world,
Beyond the long borders where foam and drift
Of the sundering waves are lost and gone
On the tides that plunge and rear and crumble.
-- Carl Sandburg --
The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg
I have always envied birds for they live in three dimensions while I'm trapped in two. Yes, I know about airplanes, but I am a fearful-flyer, a control problem, I suspect. But I never really considered very deeply just what it means to be able to fly and just what it is like, especially during those times when there are no soft winds and a blue sky and a safe landing below--at least, that is, until I read Sandburg's poem.
The use of alliteration and the hyphenated adjectives reminds me of some Old English poems that I have read, Beowulf being one and others--"The Seafarer" for example. This is a brief quotation and one appropriate I think:
All I ever heard along the ice-way
was sounding sea, the gannet's shanty
whooper and curlew calls and mewling gull
were all my gaming, mead and mirth
At tempest-tested granite crags
the ice-winged tern would taunt
spray-feathered ospreys overhead
would soar and scream. . .
-- Anon --
Online translation of "The Seafarer" by Charles Harrison-Wallace.
And, of course, there's always a haiku that strikes a similar note.
Grey marsh, black cloud. . .
Flapping away in autumn
Last old slow heron
-- Anon --
A Little Treasury of Haiku
Trans. Peter Beilenson
I read somewhere (wish I could remember who said this) that a poem should make you see something new or see something old in a new way. I think Sandburg has succeeded here.
Has he succeeded with you?
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Baltasar Gracian: contradictory people
No. 135
"Do not carry a spirit of contradiction, for it is to be freighted with stupidity, and with peevishness, and your intelligence should plot against it; though it may well be the mark of mental genius to see objection, a wrangler about everything cannot escape being marked the fool, for he makes guerrilla warfare of quiet conversation, and so becomes more of an enemy to his intimates, than to those with whom he will have nothing to do; it is in the most savory morsel that the spine which gets caught hurts most, and so it is with contradiction in moments of happy converse; such a man is a fool, offensive, who adds to the untamed within himself, the beastly."
-- Baltasar Gracian --
The Art of Worldly Wisdom
As usual, this is not a simple "never do this" rule, for Gracian is far too sophisticated to suggest this. I think the most significant qualifier is "a wrangler about everything." In other words, pick the time and place carefully, and be sparing of contradicting others. With all the distractions brought about by the ringing of the ever present mobile phone, it is difficult enough to have a quiet, uninterrupted conversation with one or more people without having to deal with the one who deems it necessary to correct numerous statements.
There are times and places when pointing out errors will be necessary, but those probably, in reality, are rare. And, there should be a statute of limitations as to bringing up comments or statements made in the past. How significant is it if one has to go back a decade or more to dig up a racial slur or a sexual innuendo?
The circumstances in which the statement was made are no longer clear, even if not distorted by time, and the individual who made the statement may no longer think the same way.
If Gracian were alive today, after being made aware of the various recording devices and means of storing conversations, he would probably suggest that one should now think three or four times rather than only twice before saying something.
"Do not carry a spirit of contradiction, for it is to be freighted with stupidity, and with peevishness, and your intelligence should plot against it; though it may well be the mark of mental genius to see objection, a wrangler about everything cannot escape being marked the fool, for he makes guerrilla warfare of quiet conversation, and so becomes more of an enemy to his intimates, than to those with whom he will have nothing to do; it is in the most savory morsel that the spine which gets caught hurts most, and so it is with contradiction in moments of happy converse; such a man is a fool, offensive, who adds to the untamed within himself, the beastly."
-- Baltasar Gracian --
The Art of Worldly Wisdom
As usual, this is not a simple "never do this" rule, for Gracian is far too sophisticated to suggest this. I think the most significant qualifier is "a wrangler about everything." In other words, pick the time and place carefully, and be sparing of contradicting others. With all the distractions brought about by the ringing of the ever present mobile phone, it is difficult enough to have a quiet, uninterrupted conversation with one or more people without having to deal with the one who deems it necessary to correct numerous statements.
There are times and places when pointing out errors will be necessary, but those probably, in reality, are rare. And, there should be a statute of limitations as to bringing up comments or statements made in the past. How significant is it if one has to go back a decade or more to dig up a racial slur or a sexual innuendo?
The circumstances in which the statement was made are no longer clear, even if not distorted by time, and the individual who made the statement may no longer think the same way.
If Gracian were alive today, after being made aware of the various recording devices and means of storing conversations, he would probably suggest that one should now think three or four times rather than only twice before saying something.
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