A Momentary Taste of Being

One of the blurbs on the back of Mr. Adiga's latest book compares him with Charles Dickens--and perhaps this comparison is more apropos than might seem at first glance.  The White Tiger , Mr. Adiga's first book, won the Man Booker Prize the year it came out. It was a savage indictment of the current regime in India with a sharp look at the cost and benefits of "outsourcing."  One might think about it as the inside story of outsourcing.  Between the Assassinations , a kind of novel in short stories, I have not read.  This third work, is larger in volume and yet somewhat smaller in scope than either of the first two. Mr. Adiga takes us into the lives of the residents of an apartment house that comes to the attention of a building constructor who wants to place on the site new luxury apartments.  The developer offers the people in towers A and B a princely sum for their houses.  Almost all of the residents want to take him up on it.  But there is ...

An intensely tricky poem to translate--see one translator's struggle here . Le Pont Mirabeau Guillaume Apollinaire Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine Et nos amours Faut-il qu'il m'en souvienne La joie venait toujours après la peine Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure Les jours s'en vont je demeure Les mains dans les mains restons face à face Tandis que sous Le pont de nos bras passe Des éternels regards l'onde si lasse Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure Les jours s'en vont je demeure L'amour s'en va comme cette eau courante L'amour s'en va Comme la vie est lente Et comme l'Espérance est violente Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure Les jours s'en vont je demeure Passent les jours et passent les semaines Ni temps passé Ni les amours reviennent Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine

Ms. Armstrong is likely to offend those who abide by a strict literal interpretation of scripture, but her words support those of us who have to answer the question--"Why the difference between the God of the Old Testament and the one in the New?" from Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life Karen Armstrong There is a great deal of tribalism in both the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Hence we fince tests such as the book of oshua, which describes Israel's brutal slaughter of the ingigenous people of Canaan, and the book of Revelation, which imagines Christ slaughtering his enemies in the Last Days. Not surprisingly, some have been puzzle by the Charter for Compassion's call "to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate." But we have to remember that people have not always read scripture in the way it is read today. Rabbinic midrash was not interested in the original mean...

It is hard to continue on the point of yesterday's post without sounding as though I am on a tirade against the solid intellectual foundations of faith.  My first task is to dispose of that notion.  I do not stand opposed to careful and clear articulation of fundamental doctrinal and dogmatic understandings.  What I do stand opposed to is that Jesus, or for that matter any other spiritual leader, ever intended that to the be legacy that they left us with.  The true legacy of a profound spiritual teacher is the changed lives of his or her followers--not the knowledge that they have of hidden things. Too often that sort of knowledge is put to poor use as a bludgeon to batter those less intellectually inclined--or, by demagogues for purposes even less charitable.  But misuse of knowledge is not a credible argument against its acquisition.  And the purposes of such thought should be ultimately to help the follower in faith to live his or her faith. Yesterda...

The Common Reader continues to share wonderful insights into Arrian's work. Go to the main page and look back over the last several days--the work is wonderful, the insights worthwhile.  Would that we all took the time to go back and read and learn from these classics.

The Common Reader, who is most decidedly an uncommon reader, takes on Arrian. And then starts his reading and analysis I have had this one for a while to read, but the debris of all the more recent publications simply drowns it.

Of the Destruction of the Tea in Boston

This review of The End of Eternity , reminded me of my debt to Isaac Asimov. In my youngest days, the works of Isaac Asimov--particularly The Foundation Trilogy sparked and fed a continual sense of wonder. In my convention-going days, I was able to meet and talk with the Legend and found that he was an ordinary, affable, congenial, pleasant companion for short stints.  (I cannot comment on more because I only spent a short time with him--dinner or such--each time we met--but I always enjoyed our conversation and interaction).  One could do worse than to revisit the works of Mr. Asimov--or if interested in exploring science fiction to visit them for the first time.

I don't have the Landmark Arrian , wasn't even aware of its availability.   Looks like I need to add a book to my list.

Christians are gaining in numbers, not atheists (and I ask, is it really a numbers game?  Who cares how many?  If someone is wrong, they are no more right with many people agreeing, and if right, they are right if they are the only one to hold the view. Not that this really has anything to do with a very interesting article--just seemed a place to say it.) Ignorance of C.S. Lewis Ayers's near death experience

Probably too much ink has been spent writing about Ms. Rice's relgious convictions and opinions. Nevertheless, I like this piece greatly--it echoes some of my own thoughts and it portrays a phenomenon too common in Christianity. From "Nice Anne Rice" So Anne now 'follows Christ', but what Christ? It will be the loving, sympathetic teacher, gentle Jesus who is, well, somewhat effeminate really. Anne was a flower child in college, so her Jesus will be the kind of hippie Jesus we're all familiar with from that generation--a long haired, groovy kind of beach bum who meditates on mountaintops, mixes with down and outs and delivers a real cool anti establishment, John Lennon kind of sermon. Then when Anne or her son is 'persecuted' by the hard hearted, hypocritical religious leaders she'll understand how Jesus was persecuted too. That's a real nice Jesus, and that kind of Jesus isn't unknown to the gospels, but remembering that her...

Margery Allingham, one of the Queens of Mystery I never acquired the taste for Ms. Allingham's fiction.  I must try again.  Marsh, Sayers, Christie, Rice, Heyer, even others--but somehow I missed Ms. Allingham.

An interchange on The Oresteia

"Dover Beach," perhaps the only truly great poem by one of the great critics, but not tremendous poets of Victorian time.

"Clothing"

"Autumn" considered

Tablet and Pen , an anthology of Middle Eastern work This looks like a really wonderful sampler for those of us who are not much acquainted with work of this region of the world.

Paul Auster's New York Trilogy-- The Locked Room reviewed I've never much cared for Auster's work, perhaps it is time to look again.

"I Sing of a Maiden" Little Women

Things Fall Apart considered Along with Nectar in a Seive, Things Fall Apart was one of the few "multicultural books" to which I was exposed in my early formal education. It is my contention that a thorough grounding in the pale patriarchy's canon made possible for me to access multicultural reading (take a look at the sidebar).  All of that said, this is one of those titles that deserve again and again a place within the canon of great works.