dual personalities

Month: September, 2012

September 6, 2012

Why study literature?

by chuckofish

Why study literature?

College books from the 1970s

M. H. Abrams, founding editor emeritus of The Norton Anthology of English Literature, answered this way: “Ha — Why live? Life without literature is a life reduced to penury. It expands you in every way. It illuminates what you’re doing. It shows you possibilities you haven’t thought of. It enables you to live the lives of other people than yourself. It broadens you, it makes you more human. It makes life enjoyable. There’s no end to the response you can make to that question Why study literature…”

Here’s the whole interview.

Henry Beetle Hough, the celebrated editor of the Vineyard Gazette, put it this way: “Any one person’s life is inexperienced and narrow, straight through to the end–poorly informed, too. Books are the only hope.”

And then, as we’ve mentioned before, there’s C.S. Lewis, who said, “We read in order to know we are not alone.” We are always looking for spiritual kin. And the amazing thing is, we find them, don’t you?

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September 5, 2012

In case you haven’t noticed

by chuckofish

It’s September!

The summer, of course, is not officially over, and, yes, it was 93-degrees yesterday and they’re saying it’ll be 96-degrees today. But it is September.

Oh boy. Ol’ John Updike covers a lot about September in this poem:

“The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.”

Yes indeed. Soon it will be time to get out the sweaters and the black tights. Maybe someday soon we will be able to open a window at home and in the car! I shouldn’t get carried away, but October is just around the corner.

What are you looking forward to?

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September 4, 2012

The power of love

by chuckofish

Continuing on the “I found it stuck in a book” thread that was started yesterday, I found this scribbled note in The Selected Letters of William Faulkner (no less).

Love letter from Ed Norton*:

I love you. I love you. I love you.

Signed,
Your Lover

P.S. I love you.

Sometimes the direct approach is best. Priceless.

*This Ed Norton (not the actor)

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September 3, 2012

The fairy coach awaits

by chuckofish

Since daughter #2 left and took with her a large bookcase, leaving a large empty space in her room and a large amount of unwanted books, I have been busy packing up her books. I decided to bring up a bookcase from the basement and fill it with my own books. This meant going through more books and separating them into give-away and keep piles. In this complicated process I have re-discovered some good books that were down in the basement. One of them is the Parables of Kierkegaard, which my sister (and dual personality) gave me back in 1980 for my birthday.

Stuck inside this book was a card with the above picture on it. Inside she wrote:

Happy Birthday Darling Adorable Sister!

Here is a little something just pour vous that I know you will really relate to. I confess that I stole a few peaks at it and I could become quite interested. You must tell me all about it.

I apologize for the recycled Easter paper but you know about deprived school children.

Doesn’t this card remind you of mommy? I think it looks just like her.

Have a happy B-day–don’t get too drunk but just think–next year at this time you’ll be a married woman and I’ll have to send you cookbooks and kitchen utensils!

Well, I must away–the fairy coach is awaiting and fizzy fuzz, Pompey, Pete and Robert Preston are getting restless.

I can’t wait to see your face and sparkling ring-finger again!

Love and Theologians,
YS

How perfect is that? The Kierkegaard is pretty good too. (But I don’t recall getting any cookbooks and/or kitchen utensils.)

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