Platypus of Truth

The Marble Faun serves as my introduction to the writings of Nathanael Hawthorne. It's more of a back door in, as a move in the middle of my junior year of high school prevented me from having the normal entre of The Scarlet Letter . I did get a chance to read his friend, Herman Melville's great work, Moby Dick , which still ranks pretty high on my list of all-time favorites. At any rate, it was about time that I sat down with a work by one of New England's great writers. The Marble Faun is often seen as one of Hawthorne's weaker works because of the heavy element of travel-log in the story. I have to say that made it particularly enjoyable to me as I could sit down every hundred pages or so and google-image every place, monument, painting, and sculpture that he mentions. It added a welcome layer of thick description, and put him instantly in dialog with so many great works, that I felt that I received more than the usual level of enrichment. Besides, I'v...

I've been dealing with various tooth related problems that have been keeping me in pain since the beginning of May. The dentist has been working away on them (he's been gracious enough not to charge for the lion's share of the work) but other problems I have (like grinding) keep interfering with the work, and the teeth are having a hard time accepting all the fillings, re-packings, grindings, bite-adjustments, and what-not. To sum it up, I'm in a lot of pain, and I don't know when, how, and at what cost this will all end (my dentist, at least, is pretty optimistic). If you would pray for healing, that would be great.

In honor of Michael Ward's groundbreaking new book, "Planet Narnia," I've decided to post my own seven heavens of summer reading. Each book is selected to follow the virtues of a particular planet in Medieval cosmology. Jupiter: The Trojan War by Barrey Strauss This is a master-work that blurs the line between history and novel in the vein of Jonnathan Spence's Treason by the Book . Strauss combines the evidence from latest dig at Hisarlik with Homer's text, and a strong, swift human sympathy to create a narrative overflowing with regal tragedy. The strong narrative structure makes for a very pleasant summer read that won't bog you down in a mire of scholarly prose. Mars: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice-Burrows In keeping with its title, this book overflows with Martial virtues. It's also a quick read, and a nice, refreshing break from today's 700+ page sci-fi behemoths. Sol: The Book of Lost Tales Volume II by J.R.R. Tolkien Fo...

I always tell my kids that the moral of every Russian fairy tale is "don't ask the Baba Yaga for favors!!!!". Evidently, however, if someone else sends you to ask the Baba Yaga a favor on their behalf, you just might get something really nifty; like a glowing skull on a stick that vaporizes your enemies. Of course it helps if you have a magic doll that can do just about anything if you feed it. I definitely see this one coming up in future lectures...

I've finished "A Princess of Mars," and it turns out to have followed through with my original expectations. Overall, I liked the book. It was a fast-paced, short read with just enough depth to keep you interested and a pacing that keeps you from pausing to break out and laugh at the absurdity of the whole thing. Classic pulp to the core. The heroes are larger than life, the villains are just plain villainous, and the ending sets up for plenty of sequels. My only qualm: since when is it o.k. to sack a city using ravening hordes of brutal barbarians just to get the woman you love out of trouble? In keeping with the Martian setting, exulting in physical prowess, and martial skill are at the core of this work. This would leave us in a Nietzachean universe were it not for the countervailing emphasis placed on love, pity (Zarathustra's great sin!), and friendship. Moving on down my list of summer reading, Hellboy Volume 8: "Darkness Calls" came in yest...

Summer is here, and with it my return to pulp! Hellboy Volume 8: "Darkness Calls" has just shipped, and while I'm waiting I've decided to delve into one of those ubiquitous ur-sources: Edgar Rice-Burroughs' "A Princess of Mars." The book is an odd (but appreciated) mixture of fantasy and sci-fi that reminds me very much of Lewis' "Out of the Silent Planet." It's also much lower (so far) on the whole quotient of "metal-clad-space-bikini-babes" than much of the later jacket covers seem to suggest (Though I think it's implied that our heroes spend most of the first chapters in a sort of heroic grecco-roman nudity). Maybe I just don't understand what good space-pulp is all about... It does have giant green men though! Anyhow, I'm only a third of the way through the book, so a full review will have to wait. It's well done so far, and holds my interest much better than more recent novels in the genre seem to....

What do you say to all of your adoring followers? -just hope no one cuts my head off...

What do you mean I have to recheck, sort, and file all of my students' textbooks A.S.A.P.!?!?!!!

What do Thucydides and Xenophon have to tell us about democracy (it being an election year and all): 1. Democracy is not the opposite of tyranny. It is merely the tyranny of the majority. 2. Building off of #1, democracy often ends up being the rule of whatever elite can most effectively sway the majority. This leads to de facto aristocracies (ie. Bushes, Kennedys, Clintons). 3. Democracies tend to function by fomenting class envy and other forms of "us vs. them" thinking. 4. Building off of points 2 and 3, democracies tend to be guided by the passions of the many, and are thus highly inconsistent in their policy-making. 5. Following from point 4, democracies are much more likely to go to war than more conservative forms of government. 6. Again, following point 4, democracies most adept at short, concerted bursts of energy, and break down when it comes to the long haul. None of this is to say that Thucydides and Xenophon are right in their observations. One ...

One day of finals left...