Monday, November 22, 2021

Thornton Wilder--The Cabala (1926)

While other young American writers and artists famously descended upon Paris in the years immediately following World War I, their Lost Generation contemporary Thornton Wilder (though I guess he later went to Paris too) spent a postwar year abroad in Rome (1920-21, pre-Mussolini), which had its own less celebrated scene of artistic people, expats, idle rich and fallen aristocrats, with the addition of high ranking officials of the Catholic church thrown into the pot. This became the setting for Wilder's first novel, The Cabala, which was well enough received at the time, and the IWE thought it important enough forty years later to include it in their list. It's short, it isn't a chore to read, it's not stupid, and some of the description of Roman expat life is interesting enough, but compared to the books by the other young men of the time whose fame have been more lasting, it is a bit starchy and overall lacking in the vim and literary bravado that most great writers, particularly when they are young men, display. Wilder was revealed after his death to have been (probably) a homosexual, which had not been publicly known when he was alive, and yes, his book does feel almost unnaturally buttoned up and repressed for an author who was still in his 20s at the time of publication. The episodes are rather slight, conveyed entirely through description, little is fleshed out in the way of character via dialogue or intimate scenes. Also the book strains to hard to seem sophisticated and knowing, to seem at home in and win approval from that world. It's a mistake--this is where the contrast with Hemingway, who debuted around the same time and writing about an analogous situation, really is vivid--the reader doesn't care, he doesn't care about the milieu without good writing and characters, and we don't have the latter and not enough of the former. But this is just criticism, I don't personally dislike the book, though I do wish it could have been better, and I can't in good faith recommend it to anybody who has other things in their life to do. But if you were trapped somewhere for a period of months with no internet and no other reading material but five or ten books, and this was one of them, it would be perfectly fine, and you might even appreciate it more than it is possible to do in our current environment. 

A few excerpts, to give a flavor of the story:

p. 13, description of the Cabala: "Each one of them has some prodigious gift, and together they're miles above the next social stratum below them. They're so wonderful that they're lonely...They sit off there in Tivoli getting what comfort they can from one another's excellence." 

p. 18 "The Spanish Ambassador and his wife wondered how on earth America could get on without a system of titles whereby one might unerrably recognize one's own people."

It's been a problem for me. 

p. 47 "He was hungry for hearing things praised."

I am somewhat like this, if it is sincere of course. Lately I feel like people have a tendency to fall over themselves praising things for political reasons or because they otherwise feel they are supposed to, not because they are genuinely moved. I hope I am not like that. I actually don't get really excited by that many things.

pp. 59-60 "Now listen: I have a son of sixteen. He is important because he is somebody. How you say?--he is a personage. We are of a very old house. Our family has been in the front of Italy, everyone in her triumph and in her trouble. You are not sympathetic to that kind of greatness in America, not?"

At the time I read this passage I was either finishing up or had just finished up Rob Roy, and the masculine energy and self confidence of (Sir) Walter Scott's writing in contrast to the strained attempts at erudition and sophistication which are predominant here probably cast this book in a more unfavorable light for me than I might have found it on another occasion.

p. 138 "She had met the Princess d'Espoli once and had ever since taken her as the type of person she would herself have been if she had been better-looking, thinner and had had more time to read."  

Why do these socially elite and supposedly brilliant Europeans want to hang out with the narrator, a young American is not especially interesting or appealing? That is never really explained or made clear in the book. Also do people--especially young people--do things like stay at palaces in the Roman countryside and spend the days roaming freely around the grounds anymore? They probably do, though you don't read much about this sort of thing anymore. 

p.177 "I have told you before, Samuele...that the hope of my life is to see a king reigning in France. How impossible such a thing seems now! No one knows it better than I. But everything I love most is improbable. And it is the fact that it seems so untimely that will help us most when we come to prepare the Divine Right of Kings as a dogma of the Church...Europe is dying." These are the kind of people the Cabala is made of. I think we are supposed to get by this point that they don't possess any real influence. 

European driving in the 1920s, when only rich people had cars and they mostly drove between their houses in town and their country estates. No worries about police, being monitored for drunk driving, headlights being out, etc. 

p. 185 The state of serious reading in 1926: "A pile of volumes lay on the table beside him: 'Appearance and Reality,' Spengler, 'The Golden Bough,' 'Ulysses,' Proust, Freud. Already their margins had begun to exhibit the spidery notations in green ink that indicated a closeness of attention that would embarrass all but the greatest authors."   

p. 188 "'Look, you have about you all the greatest books of the first quarter of my century...' 'And very stupid they are, too.'"

The book ends with the expostulation of the theory that the Greco-Roman gods did not entirely die when the worship of them faded (though their powers were much abated), but are continually reincarnated in the bodies of living people, including numerous members of the Cabala. One of the ladies suspects that the narrator may actually be the god Mercury, or what is left of him. On the steamer back to New York, the narrator is able to call up the ghost of Virgil and have a brief conversation with him (in Latin) on deck. Virgil acknowledges having seen Shakespeare and Milton in the afterlife, admitted the delusion he had been under in life that Rome and the House of Augustus would be eternal, and exhorted the narrator to die and be free of his body as quickly as possible. 

That's about what there is to it. 

While we are now finished, on this list, with Wilder the novelist, Our Town is still to come, though at my current pace probably at least twenty years away. Great motivation to try to live that long, though. 

The Challenge

A much smaller selection of entrants for this much shorter book. 

1. Sean Hannity--Live Free or Die...............................................................................23,250

2. Taylor R. Marshall--Infiltration.................................................................................3,898

3. Shannon Olsen--A Letter From Your Teacher on the First Day of School................3,525

4. The Miniaturist (S1 TV-2018)......................................................................................574

5. Euripides--Orestes........................................................................................................110

6. Gershom Scholem--Zohar: Book of Splendor..............................................................107

7. Alix Ohlin--Dual Citizens..............................................................................................72

8. Die America Die! The Illuminati's Plan, etc (movie?)..................................................56

9. Samuel G. White--Stanford White in Detail..................................................................52

10. Prayer M. Madueke--Dangerous Decrees to Destroy Your Destroyers.......................45

11. Mitchell Chefitz--The Seventh Telling.........................................................................33

12. Thornton Wilder--The Woman of Andros.....................................................................19

13. David Ariel--Kabbalah................................................................................................19

14. Yuval Harari--Jewish Magic Before the Rise of Kabbalah..........................................11

15. Marietta McCarthy--The Philosopher's Table.............................................................11

16. Jody Myers--Kabbalah and the Spiritual Quest............................................................6

The two big content generators in this Challenge were the word "cabala" and the phrase "America die". With a score of 6 making it into the field, and 56 getting you a home game in the first round, it's like going back to old times here. 

1st Round

#16 Myers over #1 Hannity. 

In spite of Hannity's being one of the most recognizable faces of Evil in America today, this was not an automatic advance for Myers, though I don't really want to read a Sean Hannity book. However upon looking into the matter, there was no reason for her not to win.   

#2 Marshall over #15 McCarthy

The Philosopher's Table is about cooking. It still would have won over Infiltration, which has the subtitle The Plot to Destroy the Church From Within, but the latter comes to the tourney armed with an upset. 

#14 Harari over #3 Olsen

#13 Ariel over #4 The Miniaturist

#12 Wilder over #5 Euripides

Too bad these two had to meet in the 1st round. The Woman of Andros is Wilder's third novel, short and set in ancient Greece, which sounds similar to the other two, though it didn't make it on the IWE list. I had it win here because I think it likely that Euripides (who I should read more of, for my personal education if nothing else, before I depart this existence) will turn up again, and he'll always have a chance to go deep in the tournament, unless he gets a strange draw like he did here. 

#6 Scholem over #11 Chefitz

I am not a great judge of the merits of Jewish theological books, but Gershom Scholem seems to be regarded as a scholar of some significance. 

#7 Ohlin over #10 Madueke

#9 White over #8 Die America Die

Quarterfinals

#2 Marshall over #16 Myers

Marshall has enough power/upset points to carry him past a second middling opponent, but he'll be on his own going forward. 

#6 Scholem over #14 Harari

#7 Ohlin over #13 Ariel

In a tournament like this, just appearing to be a somewhat regular, mainstream novel/memoir/travelogue/general interest title can be an advantage.

#12 Wilder over #9 White

The Stanford White book didn't get a ton of attention in this championship, and it doesn't seem to have been strictly mainstream/general interest, but the subject could, potentially, be interesting to me. 

Semifinals

#12 Wilder over #2 Marshall

Am I really going to go in for a third Thornton Wilder novel after not being wholeheartedly enamored of the first two, and the one that is supposed to be the worst of the group at that?

#6 Scholem over #7 Ohlin

Great matchup of names. This Zohar book is very short and seems like something it wouldn't kill me to acquire some familiarity with.

Championship

#6 Scholem over #12 Wilder

No, I am not going to go in for that third Wilder book in the end. A Challenge devoid of any real ironclad/lock. Scholem won the title as a #6 seed without having to topple a single higher ranked opponent.  



Thursday, November 11, 2021

Thomas Bulfinch--Bulfinch's Mythology (The Age of Fable: 1855; The Age of Chivalry: 1858; Legends of Charlemagne: 1863)

I have a picture of the book on my phone but my charger is broken and my phone is dead, so I cannot get it right now. Maybe I will add it later. 



I am probably not going to do this book justice. Yes, approximately one third of it involves people getting swords run through their bodies, and I had to read quite a lot of it, particularly in the latter two sections, before a sense of the beauty and importance of the stories began to make a genuine impression on me, in spite of their having been popular, central founding myths in the history of significant peoples, and continuously mined for subject matter by artists of all stripes for thousands of years. Bulfinch only seems to done of the bulk of the writing himself in the first volume, which primarily covers the ancients (and he includes many excerpts from the great English poets on these legendary figures and episodes, which were sorely missed in the later books). The second volume, which is concerned with King Arthur and the court of Camelot, looks to be largely transcribed from other sources, especially Malory, (whose book in whole also turns up on this list later on). The final volume, in which Bulfinch relied heavily on the accounts that have come down under the name of The Archbishop Turpin of Rheims, which relates the exploits of Orlando and Rinaldo and Ogier the Dane and numerous other heroes who fought tirelessly in defense of our faith against the Saracens and other enemies of the Western Empire, is also largely related in a different voice than that of The Age of Fable, apart from a few instances where Bulfinch, a 19th century native Bostonian and Harvard professor, had some fun commenting on (apparent) inconsistencies between the published exploits and supposed duties on certain officials of the medieval church.

The obvious comparison with this book is Edith Hamilton's similar introduction to the subject that came out in the mid-20th century, though she does not write about the Charlemagne people at all. College professors and other people who consider themselves real intellectuals frequently express a sneering contempt for both of these books in a degree that few other works seem to produce, as if there were not a single accurate observation or explanation of their subjects to be found in them. It's never clear to me what books the non-expert especially should be reading instead to avoid this censure from the learned, apart from the actual original poems and romances, which many amateur readers have done anyway, albeit in translations. Personally I liked both of these books and felt at the time at least that I was getting something out of them. Hamilton's had a somewhat jauntier mid-20th century style, however Bulfinch is at least 3 times as long (it's a very long book) and gave a much more thorough overview particularly of the Arthurian wing of the house of mythology, which I have often found either confusing or not especially captivating in the past. I liked his presentation of it here. There was a section on the "Mabinogeon" legends from Wales that, although the stories are less sophisticated and even more dependent on supernatural improbabilities than their Arthurian counterparts are. 

The first paragraph of the Preface is something of a summation of the mindset with which I have undertaken this reading list, and to some extent my entire formal education and life (though perhaps I should have mixed in some useful learning in this), and as such I think merits to be reproduced in full:

"If no other knowledge deserves too be called useful but that which helps to enlarge our possessions or to raise our station in society, then mythology has no claim to the appellation. But if that which tends to make us happier and better can be called useful then we claim that epithet for our subject. For mythology is the handmaid of literature; and literature is one of the best allies of virtue and promoters of happiness."   


There are a lot of quotes in this that may me laugh, mostly because of the contrast with our contemporary life, such as this other nugget from the preface:

"Our book is not for the learned, nor for the theologian, nor for the philosopher, but for the reader of English literature, of either sex, who wishes to comprehend the allusions so frequently made by public speakers, lecturers, essayists, and poets, and those which occur in polite conversation."

I noted dozens of passages in this, but I am going to cut these down to ones that strike me as especially funny or containing unusual or interesting information.

The day I read about Actaeon, whom you will recall was devoured by his own hounds ("He would have been well pleased to see the exploits of his dogs, but to feel them was too much"), I made a note, possibly anticipating my writing this report on the eve of Halloween, that it was "a 95 degree day at the pool". That would have been in mid-August, before my vacation, before school, before taking my kid to St. John's (so far he has stayed there)...

I thought it interesting that Phaeton (who was unable to drive his father Phoebus's chariot across the sky and was burnt up by the sun) was admired on his tomb for his overreaching ambition, though it had been impossible for him to succeed (not realizing his limits). The ancients thought it was, I don't know, not completely ridiculous on his part, which I worry was my reaction to his insistence on making the attempt when I read the story. 

After Midas chose Pan as the victor in a musical competition over Apollo: "Apollo would not suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer to wear the human form, but caused them to increase in length, grow hairy, etc." Punishment for poor taste/discernment. It appeals to me. 

I like the abode of Somnus, the god of sleep ("the dull god"). 

"Cassiopeia was an Aethiopian, and consequently, in spite of her boasted beauty, black; at least so Milton seems to have thought..." I guess Bulfinch didn't like black girls.

On the adventure of the Golden Fleece: "What became of the fleece afterwards we do not know, but perhaps it was found after all, like many other golden prizes, not worth the trouble it had cost to procure it...This is one of those mythological tales, says a late writer (ed--not identified), in which there is reason to believe that a substratum of truth exists, though overlaid by a mass of fiction. It probably was the first important maritime expedition, and like the first attempts of the kind of all nations, as we know from history, was probably of a half-piratical character." 

Atalanta: "'Can it be possible that any will be so rash as to risk so much for a wife?' said (Hippomenes, the judge of the race). But when he saw her lay aside her robe for the race, he changed his mind and said, 'Pardon me, youths, I knew not the prize you were competing for.'"

Lines from Cowper on Empress Anne of Russia's ice palace that were quoted in relation to something that I thought humorous/good verses:

"Imperial mistress of the fur-clad Russ...No forest fell/When thou wouldst build, no quarry sent its stores/T'enrich thy walls; but though didst hew the floods/And make thy marble of the glassy wave."

Why does no one want to marry/let their relatives marry Orion?

Excerpt from Pope's Homer:

"Such honours Ilium to her hero paid,/And peaceful slept the mighty Hector's shade."

I am dying.    

Aeneas standing over the corpse of a heated young man (Lausus) he had to slay because the other wouldn't stop charging him: "Hapless youth..." A favorite phrase of mine. I once used it as a chapter heading. 

A Sir Thomas Browne reference. Bulfinch denotes him as the first writer to disclaim a belief in the existence of the Phoenix. "He was replied to a few years later (this was obviously in the pre-Twitter era) by Alexander Ross, who says, in answer to the objection of the Phoenix so seldom making his appearance, 'His instinct teaches him to keep out of the way of the tyrant of the creation, man, for if he were to be got at, some wealthy glutton would surely devour him, though there were no more in the world.'"

"Such a prodigy" on the Basilisk, which was a serpent of extraordinary powers. "What though the Moor the basilisk hath slain/And pinned him lifeless to the sandy plain/Up through the spear the subtle venom flies/The hand imbibes it, and the victim dies."

The not properly serious overview of the life of Buddha caused me to smirk guiltily a few times. "No sooner had he grown to years of maturity than he began to reflect deeply on the depravity and misery of mankind...At first some who heard him doubted of the soundness of his mind." 

"...where, of all places, we least looked for literature or written memorials..." quoting Carlyle on Iceland. 

"Ireland was at that time (middle 500s) a land of gospel light, while the western and northern parts of Scotland were still immersed in the darkness of heathenism." I laugh, but I also feel like it is kind of true. 

Old tourism. I would be surprised if many visitors were descending upon Iona, which takes some effort to get to even now, in 1858, but perhaps they were. "Iona is now chiefly resorted to by travellers on account of the numerous ecclesiastical and sepulchral remains which are found upon it. The principal of these are the Cathedral or Abbey Church and the Chapel of the Nunnery. Besides these remains of ecclesiastical antiquity, there are some of an earlier date, and pointing to the existence on the island of forms of worship and belief different from those of Christianity. These are the circular cairns which are found in various parts, and which seem to have been of Druidical origin. It is in reference to all these remains of ancient religion that Johnson exclaims, 'That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plains of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer amid the ruins of Iona.'"

Now in the preface of the second volume, which deals primarily with legends and stories from Britain, addressing American readers, or at least those of Anglo-Saxon origin: 

"It is an additional recommendation of our subject, that it tends to cherish in our minds the idea of the source from which we sprung. We are entitled to our full share in the glories and recollections of the land of our forefathers, down to the time of colonization thence. The associations which spring from this source must be fruitful of good influences: among which not the least valuable is the increased enjoyment which such associations afford to the American traveller when he visits England, and sets his foot upon any of her renowned localities." We are entitled! Maybe not me, but some American student is meant. While I often been accused of feeling entitled, and even on occasion been guilty of the charge (though mercifully usually without attaining the desire I feel wrongfully entitled to), I have wanted my whole life to have someone in authority tell me I really am entitled to something good. I don't think anyone ever has. 

From the introduction to "King Arthur and His Knights". The chivalric ideal got Bulfinch stirred up:

"...and lastly, in the generosity and sense of right which, however crushed under the weight of passion and selfishness, dwell naturally in the heart of man. From this last source sprang Chivalry, which framed an ideal of the heroic character, combining invincible strength and valor, justice, medesty, loyalty to superiors, courtesy to equals, compassion to weakness, and devotedness to the Church; and ideal which, if never met with in real life (italics mine), was acknowledged by all as the highest model for emulation." Though he does add a little later on that, "On a cool estimate, we cannot but see reason to congratulate ourselves that it has given way in modern times to the reign of law, and that the civil magistrate, if less picturesque, has taken the place of the mailed champion." I was just ruminating today on how by the 18th century, the English aristocracy as depicted in the novels of Fielding, Jane Austen, et al, were able to occupy enormous estates without maintaining fortifications or needing to employ a personal army to keep from being continually menaced or threatened with ransacking by anyone, which was really quite a remarkable advance. 

I will forget the shocking story of Guendolen and Estrildis if I don't make a note of it here. 

"Locrine (chieftan of central Britain predating the Roman invasion I think) was married to Guendolen, the daughter of Corineus; but, having seen a fair maid named Estrildis, who had been brought captive from Germany, he became enamored of her, and had by her a daughter, whose name was Sabra. This matter was kept secret while Corineus lived; but after his death, Locrine divorced Guendolen, and made Estrildis his queen. Guendolen, all in rage, departed to Cornwall, where Madan, her son, lived, who had been brought up by Corineus, his grandfather. Gathering an army of her father's friends and subjects, she gave battle to her husband's forces, and Locrine was slain. Guendolen caused her rival, Estrildis, with her daughter Sabra, to be thrown into the river, from which cause the river thenceforth bore the maiden's name, which by length of time is now changed into Sabrina or Severn." 

I guess she didn't really want him back. 

"...the place of combat suddenly exhibited a scene of the most tumultuous delight." A common resolution after two knights have been fighting to the death for the preceding six hours. 

Modern criminals would love the option (frequently offered in these stories) of standing combat against their accusers. It is fortunate that the greatest knights of the Table Round were virtuous. 

It is made clearer to me than I have found in other tellings, both in terms of narrative arc and sentimental and emotional appeal, that the quest for the Grail was the undoing and eventual cause of the breakup of the Table Round. Everybody else probably knew this, but it had not sunk in with me.   

Yes I like writing "Table Round", because that's the way all these old writers write it. 

"And never was there a more doleful battle in Christian land." The fight between King Arthur and Sir Modred. 


Moving on to the Mabinogeon--I guess I didn't make many notes on Arthur--romance, Welsh style:

"And when he saw it, the king took counsel where he should find a wife. Said one of his counsellors, 'I know a wife that will suit thee well; and she is the wife of King Doged.' And they resolved to go to seek her; and they slew the king, and brought away his wife." 

The number of tasks given to Kilwich by Yspadaden Penkawr. I would have needed to write them down. 

Moving on to another legendary figure, a funny footnote:

"This (the view that Robin Hood lived in the time of Henry VIII) seems to have been the opinion of the author from whom we draw the following account of our hero's life,--to show how the doctors will disagree even on a topic as important as Robin Hood."

"Scarcely less famous than Robin Hood as a subject for ballad makers was the battle of Chevy Chase. This battle was one of the many struggles rising out of the never-ending border quarrels between Scotland and England, of which poets are never tired of singing." I got a laugh out of this too. 

All right, we have made to the preface of the third and final volume, which (the preface) is as excellent as those of the other two, with much to consider about the purpose of literature (to be able to partake in the intercourse of polished society), the genius of the Italian poets ("as long as civilization shall endure, these productions will retain their place among the most cherished creations of human genius"), and the expectations of an educated man (that he will have some knowledge of the great poets of Italy, Pulci, Boiardo, and Ariosto, none of whom by the way appear on this list), which I always take the time to remark on whenever I come across the idea in these kinds of books, especially if they have stood some test of time, which this one has.    

"Astolpho, of England, the handsomest man living." 

On the arrival of Angelica, a beauty from Saracen lands, at the same tournament: 

"There were many ladies present who had seemed beautiful till she made her appearance, but after that they all seemed nothing." 

Lot of information--good information, but I won't retain most (any?) of it. Noted during the chapter "The Siege of Albracca."

"She was, in fact, older than Hecuba or the Sibyl of Cumae; but an art, which is to be regretted our times have lost, enabled her to appear charming, and to clothe herself in all the attractions of youth."


The life of idle luxury produced by enchantresses includes poetry, but not internet, video games (pornography obviously, since you can more or less live it if you so please). The sorcery of our forebears did not anticipate technological based wonders.

"Cloridan next came to the unlucky Grillon, whose head lay softly on his pillow. He dreamed probably of the feast from which he had but just retired; for when Cloridan cut off his head, wine flowed forth with the blood."

Some good points on the folly of overexerting yourself to gain any one woman (Angelica, in this instance):

"O Count Rinaldo, O King Sacripant! what availed it you to possess so many virtues and such fame? What advantage have you derived from all your high deserts? O hapless king, great Agrican! if you could return to life, how would you endure to see yourself rejected by one who will bow to the yoke of Hymen in favor of a young soldier of humble birth? And thou, Ferrau, and ye numerous others who a hundred times have put your lives at hazard for this cruel beauty, how bitter will it be to you to see her sacrifice you all to the claims of the humble Medoro!"  

"Isabella told him her affliction, and her resolution to renounce the world and devote herself to religion, and to the memory of the friend she had lost. Rodomont laughed scornfully at this, and told her that her project was absurd; that charms like hers were meant to be enjoyed, not buried, and that he himself would more than make amends for her dead lover." Rodomont is an infidel by the way. He threw the hermit who had taken her in over a cliff, and Isabella tricked him into killing her rather than submitting to his lustful and impious designs.

"The valley of lost things" on the moon, in Ariosto. I read of this somewhere else many years ago in one of my particularly favorite books (Johnson? Anthony Powell?) and was taken with the idea. Lost loves, lost times, lost reputations, presumably lost hopes, lost potential, lost abilities as well.

"Sobrino, as soon as he perceived the holy monk perform that wonder (cure a wound in Sobrino's foot, aided by prayers), cast aside his false prophet, and with contrite heart owned the true God, and demanded baptism at his hands." When the West was going places. 

"This abbot (of the still renowned monastery of Cluny), worthy of his high dignity, had never lost an opportunity of doing good, setting an example of every excellence, and making virtue attractive by his example." 

I suspect it would do us a lot of good if we could imagine anyone in authority to be full of excellence, virtue, and noble intentions. But this seems impossible in the current state of society. 


The Modern Library edition features a number of illustrations of artworks depicting incidents from the book, including two from Abbey's Arthurian sequence in the Boston Public Library, the existence of which I had not previously been aware. It gives me a new thing to do/see this winter, assuming it is something that is regularly open for the public to see, which I cannot quite tell whether that is the case.

"'What!' said the Abbot of Cluny; 'slaughter a Saracen prince without first offering him baptism?'" This was supposed to be a funny one. 

Like so much art of this type, I suspect (based on my own experience of people) much of it was the expression of a deeply unhappy society of its craving for men who were ready to face down scoundrels in high places (and needless to say capable of doing so). I don't whether they believed in any of it as possible or if it were merely idle wish fulfillment, though these stories were the predominant literature of Western Europe for hundreds of years and obviously had a deep influence on the character and cultural ground of those nations. I'm losing the thread now.

"Then the good Archbishop Turpin laid aside his helmet and his bloody sword, (for he always felt that he was clearly in the line of his duty while slaying infidels,) took his mitre and his crosier, and intoned Te Deum."

My comment was "People are complex."

More on the archbishop: "It so happened that Turpin, who occasionally recalled to mind that he was Archbishop of Rheims, was at that time in the vicinity, making a pastoral visit to the churches under his jurisdiction."

With this I have come to the end of the "B"s on the list. At eight years into it it would seem that I am progressing very slowly, but there is a lot of frontloading towards the beginning of the alphabet. When I get to the end of the "C"s I'll be 30% of the way through the whole list. That will probably take me 2 and a half years at least though.    

The Bourgeois Surrender Challenge

My system for choosing competitors for this contest involves doing random internet searches using keywords from the book I have just read, chapter titles, illustration captions, the last word of especially long or important passages. When the book is set in 1920s Paris or New York City or otherwise features a large number of common Western proper names, both of characters and places, I tend to get the kind of results I really like. When the book is concerned more with ancient and mythological names, and in particular those of Nordic origin, as we have seen already with Balder Dead and Beowulf, a lot of "Thor the movie" and Harry Potteresque fantasy literature type stuff tends to find its way onto the list. As is the case here.   

1. Fifth Element (movie--1997)................................................................................21,335

2. Bryan Stevenson--Just Mercy...............................................................................20,202

3. Thor (movie--2011)...............................................................................................17,669

4. Todd Burpo--Heaven is For Real..........................................................................16,829

5. The Meg (movie--2018)........................................................................................10,603

6. Richard Dawkins--The God Delusion.....................................................................8,029

7. Jeffrey Mason--Mon, I Want to Hear Your Story....................................................8,021

8. Juno (movie--2007)................................................................................................6,499

9. Underworld (movie--2003).....................................................................................5,135

10. Randy Pausch--The Last Lecture..........................................................................5,064

11. Natalie Babbitt--Tuck Everlasting.........................................................................4,882

12. Rick Riordan--Magnus Chase & the Gods of Asgard...........................................3,945

13. Underworld: Evolution (movie--2006).................................................................3,583

14. Laini Taylor--Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Book 1................................................3,536

15. Heidi McLaughlin--Forever My Girl......................................................................2,710

16. Underworld (5 films--box set)...............................................................................2,466

1st Round

#1 Fifth Element over #16 Underworld set.

The first two Underworld movies qualified for the tournament under their own power, as well the set of the complete series. I don't especially want to see any of them. The Fifth Element was a popular Hollywood movie made by a French team, and it's from the 90s, a decade whose vision and stage of technological sophistication I can at least somewhat relate to, so it's possible I might actually enjoy it. 

#2 Stevenson over #15 McLaughlin

McLaughlin's book is a romance aimed at junior high school girls.

#14 Taylor over #3 Thor

#4 Burpo over #13 Underworld: Evolution

#12 Riordan over #5 The Meg

#11 Babbitt over #6 Dawkins

Tuck Everlasting is a children's classic. Dawkins is an atheist who is famous for getting into insult matches on the internet, though no doubt he is brilliant, and could easily force me to deny the existence of God in front of a crowd of well-educated people. Babbitt has some upsets to play in any event. 

#10 Pausch over #7 Mason

This was a wash between two (seemingly) absurdly popular books that aren't likely to win the tournament.

#8 Juno over #9 Underworld

Elite 8

#14 Taylor over #1 Fifth Element

#2 Stevenson over #12 Riordan

Stevenson getting to cruise into the Final Four over some bad kids books.

#11 Babbitt over #4 Burpo

Todd Burpo's 3 year old son went to heaven during an emergency operation though he later returned to his body, his recollections of the trip providing material for a best-selling book. He should have been matched up against Dawkins.

#10 Pausch over #8 Juno

Final Four

#2 Stevenson over #14 Taylor

#11 Babbitt over #10 Pausch

Championship

#11 Babbitt over #2 Stevenson

With no great choices qualifying for the tournament, an award winning young adult novel from the 1975-1981 period wins a second straight Challenge.   

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

November 2021

A List: John Dewey--Experience and Education............................................................48/116
B List: Between books
C List: Jack London--"To Start a Fire".............................................................................15/26

It took most of the month, but I did finally make it to all new books. And these are short, so I will doubtless be on a whole other new set of books next month as well. 

Reading John Dewey at this late date, when I feel like as a society we are about to give up, even though people will stridently deny it, on the idea (hope) of any kind of truly mass education as a serious aspiration, does have the effect of clarifying a little some of the main points of contention over the last one hundred years, as the arguments put forth in the book are clearly and succinctly stated. I have to say that almost all of the people I have met in my life who seemed to me to be "well educated" I think acquired their learning by the traditional means of following an established program of information and the tried and true methods of absorbing it that Dewey wanted to move beyond because he didn't think it was working well for most students in the 20th century. He may have been right about that but his approach doesn't seem to have produced the results that were looked for either, nor do I even think it an ideal system for geniuses to grow up in, even if they should be given a little more leeway in the program of development they are expected to follow. Dewey even talks about the concept of "the real world" which I have heard people refer to my whole life, particularly in connection with education, and the hard fact of which I have always struggled to perceive and integrate with such education as I have picked up over the years. In me the two things have always remained stubbornly separate.

I had never actually sat down and read this famous Jack London story before, though I have often heard about it. It's a sound story, good structure, good technical explanation of natural phenomena, good pace, even an interesting philosophical foray where he talks about all of the things that the rather literal-minded protagonist did not think about that the sort of men who elevated the human species to the level of understanding of the world that it has attained would have thought about. Jack London is one of the best known American authors in many European countries, well above what I consider to be his level of fame here.     

I am a little out of sorts this month (yes, again). There is just too much going on. I forget to do something important almost every day. I've had to skip my reading a few days, which I wish I didn't have to do, but I have to keep my life organized. This time of year I have to gear up to get through the many expenses of the December to March season which is almost upon us and which I worry is causing me more anxiety than it really merits. 


This month's pictures. This is Massabesic Lake in Manchester, NH, the first weekend of November.


Halloween night #1 (our village goes trick-or-treating on the 30th). It poured rain. 


Another picture from Lake Massabesic. 


Me trying to get my annual "last day on the porch" photo. This was October 22nd. It turned out not to be the last day, though it kind of was the end of the season, as I was able to get out almost every day up to that point. 


The view yesterday, November 9th, 66 degrees. I think this is probably going to turn out to be the last day for this year. 


The best picture of this set didn't get in here (hard to see which one is which when loading from the phone). I've noticed in the last few weeks that I'm starting to really get jowls. Up until then I was deluding myself that I still looked young for my age. 


More Halloween in the rain.


I finished Rob Roy. As you know I think it is quite good, has a vigorous, good-natured, irrepressible quality to it that is probably the most evident thing that is missing from modern writers when you come back to them. I am going to start trusting that if a novelist had a big reputation in the 19th century, I will find that there was a reason for it. One sample paragraph from the book I give you:

"Go young man! Amuse yourself in your world of poetical imaginations, and leave the business of life to those who understand and can conduct it.' His intention, I believe, was to provoke me, and he succeeded."



Back again to the Charles Tenney Estate in Methuen, MA. I think pictures of this in the snow appear in our March post. 



Another place we have been to before, a marshland near Dover, NH, which my children especially like for some reason. 


Back at the Tenney estate. 


Yet another return, to Table Rock, on the Connecticut River. 


Outside the Asian food market in a kind of rough looking part of Manchester. 



Saturday drive on U.S. 3 at the peak of leaf season in early October. 



 One picture from the true Halloween night (it was unseasonably warm that year). 

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Florida

This list predates the era of theme parks and other modern attractions, and may (I would never say "will" in anticipating the satisfaction of other people) especially appeal to those in search of the "old-time" Florida experience. 

1. Everglades National Park, in Southern Florida, on U.S. Route 41. "Largest remaining subtropical wilderness in the United States; open Everglades prairies, mangrove forests; abundant wildlife including rare and colorful birds."


Around 1,000,000,000 annual visitors. I  have driven on the Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41) which goes along the edge of the park and we even stopped at a couple of roadside areas to take in the scene, so compared to most of these places I have kind of been there, but not really. It's pretty famous, I don't think I need to say too much about it. 


2. Fort Matanzas National Monument, 10 miles south of St. Augustine, on U.S. Route 1. "Spanish fort built in 1737 to protect back door to St. Augustine. Near this site, Menendez massacred two parties of French Huguenots in 1565, thus determining that Florida should remain Spanish rather than French territory."


This is another place I intended to visit once but was unsuccessful in my efforts. I did drive past it on the highway at least. I made the mistake (I think I was still in my 30s at the time, and overambitious) of trying to pack in too much in one day. I thought we could drop in to St Augustine for a couple of hours first and see that. My 1950s and 60s travel books, which before I got a smart phone I used to consult a lot, had given me an idea of St Augustine as a sleepy, old Florida kind of place where I would be able to pull up my car on the main strip in the town and walk around pretty much on my own taking in the sites for a few hours. It was in fact overrun with traffic and tourists. The pictures we got from the day still look nice but there was no personal space to be found anywhere. After this nobody besides me was in the mood to visit the 18th century fort (1742 according the official web site) where the Huguenots had met their unfortunate fate so we ploughed on through to grandma's condo. 

Pedro Menendez de Aviles: 1st governor of Florida. Appears to have been a capable military commander, definitely a conquistador type. There are some substantial monuments dedicated to him back in Spain. 


3. Fort Jefferson National Monument, at Dry Tortugas, 60 miles west of Key West, on U.S. Route 1 (Key West, I presume). "Largest all-masonry fortification in western world; built in 1846 for control of Florida Straits. Federal military prison during and after the Civil War. Outstanding bird refuge; extraordinary marine life." 


This looks like it would be a lovely spot to visit, but if you have a regular income it looks like it is quite expensive to get there. The ferry is almost $200 a person, and if you want to take the seaplane it'll cost you $634 for a full day excursion (the half day outing is only $341, but I don't like to be rushed). You can camp on the island(!), but you would have to bring everything with you on the ferry, food, ice, tent, drinking water. I think it would be worth doing once if you had the time and money. I can't find any more inexpensive way of getting there, unless you are able to go by private boat.  


4. Mountain Lake Sanctuary, in central Florida, 12 miles east of Winter Haven, on U.S. Route 60. "Established by Edward Bok as a sanctuary for birds; overlooks some thirty lakes; on Iron Mountain, the highest point in Florida*. More than a hundred varieties of birds; beautiful plants, shrubs, and trees. Contains the Singing Tower, where Edward Bok is buried. High up in the tower is a magnificent set of 71 bells." 


This is another site that I have almost been to. One year--a while ago now--when we were on our winter vacation in Sarasota I tried to squeeze in a visit on the way home. As often happens in such instances, we got off to a later start than I had planned, then hit terrible traffic getting out of Sarasota and up towards central Florida where the sanctuary is, though the sanctuary itself is in a less crowded area away from the highways that still maintains something of the old Florida look that I find in my guidebooks from the 50s and 60s. We pulled up at the gate of the place 5 minutes before they closed, so we didn't go in, though at least I was able to espy the top of the tower in the distance. At the time of course we planned to come back, but we have not to this point. It is relatively inexpensive ($15 for adults, $5 for children), and it looks like it is kind of grand and beautiful, Florida vegetation stretching over the flat land in all directions, a kind of vista we don't see the like of in the north. Edward Bok is not too famous anymore, but I have read his autobiography, which I enjoyed, so the place holds an interest for me. 

*According to Wikipedia, Iron Mountain is only tied for the 13th highest point in Florida, though at 295 feet, it is just 60 feet lower than the highest point (Britton Hill, in the far northwest panhandle, near Alabama). 


After a blissful day visiting the Sanctuary, Central Florida nightlife awaits to slap you back to reality. 

5. Highlands Hammock State Park, in south central Florida, 6 miles west of Sebring, on U.S. Route 27. "One of the most remarkable scenic spots in the state, it adjoins the huge Florida Botanical Garden and Arboretum. A wilderness of dense jungle and swamps, it abounds with wild animals and birds." 


This is another place that I have contemplated going to over the years, but as with the Bok Tower, it's about an hour and 40 minutes from where we stay in Sarasota when go down there, and there hasn't been enough enthusiasm from the crowd to commit to taking one of our precious Florida days to make it over there. But as people get older...maybe one of these years. This is one of four original Florida state parks, and appears to offer a pretty comprehensive Florida nature experience--cypresses, palmettoes, alligators, ibises, etc. The entry fee per vehicle is $6--$4 if you drive in by yourself, making this a serious bargain for a quality day out in this part of the world. You can camp there as well, and even the campground gets mostly very positive online reviews, which is rare. 

The botanical garden and arboretum mentioned in the article was part of the original plan for the park, but this seems to have been abandoned as far back as 1939, and the area set aside for the garden incorporated into the main body of the park. This does not seem to exist as a separately cultivated area today. 


6. Silver Springs, in central Florida, 6 miles east of Ocala, on U.S. Route 27. "One of the largest springs in the world. Strange underwater plants, turtles, and fish may be seen from special boats." 
 

I have often seen advertisements for this place, either on road signs or tourist brochures, promoting it as a genuine, even classic "old-time Florida" attraction, especially famous for its glass bottom boat tours, which date back to the 1870s. I remember looking into this some years back and thinking it was fairly expensive, $30 or $40 a person, though obviously much cheaper than the likes of Disney World would be. In 2013 the state of Florida took it over and turned it into a state park, which has made it much cheaper to get onto the grounds at least, though the boat tours are a separate fee, the pricing system for which seems a little convoluted, in the sense that it is not easily obvious to me how much a family outing say would cost. The park was "whites only" until 1967, as were presumably most of the IWE recommended sites in the southern states, as these seem to have been written around 1960. The writers never remark or otherwise comment on this in these travel sections.


7. Marine Studios at Marineland,
near St. Augustine "have thousands of salt water fish of all sizes, including large sharks, on exhibit. Visitors can see them below the water surface through 300 windows." 


Originally opened in 1938, Marineland has a rather complicated history. During its heyday in the 1950s, the complex included three motels, a restaurant, and a bar called the Moby Dick Lounge which was frequented by a number of literary celebrities, including Hemingway, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, John Dos Passos, and Leo Tolstoy's grandson. The Wikipedia article on the site also notes that the park was famous for its employee Christmas parties, "a tradition starting in the early days lasting into the 1990s". (Hey, I could have gone to one of those!)* Starting around 1987, the attraction began a period of sustained decline. Layoffs came in the late 90s, and a series of hurricanes between 1999 & 2004, combined with ongoing deterioration of the facilities and decline in attendance already in progress, caused the closing of the park in 2004, with a declaration of bankruptcy and the selling off of such assets as remained. Remarkably, some serious scientific entities, such as the Dolphin Conservation Center Center and the Georgia Aquarium, took an interest in rehabilitating the site, and renovations were undertaken to bring the marine facilities especially up to date. The park reopened in 2006, the Dolphin show and other pure entertainments of old having been reinvented as more of a hands on learning and conservation experience. After reading through all of this history I feel like I really do need to drop in on this place if I ever get the opportunity (though alas, the bar, restaurant and motels are gone. It sounds like the original gift shop building at least has been preserved). 


*I did a quick search looking for more information about these legendary Christmas parties, but I didn't find anything.