Murch with Ondaatje

Over a decade ago I purchased a copy of Koestler's The Act of Creation.  The shifting interests of the day have led me to continually skip this book whenever I choose something new to read, and to this day it remains unread.  Beyond the brief blurb on the back of the book I could not adequately describe what the book is about.  However, I can clearly remember what I hoped to find it in when I made that initial purchase.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered an exploration of the act of creation in what presents itself ostensibly as a film book: The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film by Michael Ondaatje.  While the book is in fact a series of transcribed conversations, it is so much more than the subtitle indicates.

Jane Jacobs and William H. Whyte on the City

Before I discuss books in this post, a backstory is necessary to explain how my interest was spurred in this subject.  About four years ago I moved from the downtown core of a moderately sized city with a population of just over one million residents into a new suburban development.  This was prompted by the impending birth of my son, who we thought would have a better start to life away from the hustle and bustle of downtown.  However, the experience turned out to be much different than I expected.  The first sign that something was amiss came the day after we moved in when we decided to take a long walk and explore our neighbourhood.  This took place on a beautiful sunny day on Labour Day weekend.  During this hour long walk I was immediately shocked that we encountered no other people.  Another example is that during my family's walks we often go down a bike/walking path close to our home.  Whenever we make it half way between two intersecting roads I always take a moment to look behind me and what I invariably find is that we are alone on this path.  Ongoing exposure to the suburbs has prompted a burgeoning interest in city planning, social space and what makes cities successful.

Philip Roth's Good Girl

Convictions are greater enemies of truth than lies.
                                                                      - Nietzsche

I have had the pleasure of reading two works by Philip Roth, both very different in tone and demonstrating a wide range of his abilities as a writer.  Portnoy's Complaint turned out to be one of the funniest, most neurotic novels I've read and was the hook that convinced me that more Roth would make worthwhile reading.  My second foray, When She Was Good, the subject of this post, has similarities in that it is a character study but there it ends.  It is a much darker, more somber novel and it is about a character that I felt little sympathy for by the end of the reading.  However, the set up of the novel where the reader is told the central character is dead was the element that made me want to continue as I had to know why and how.

Dos Passos's U.S.A.

I have been lax at updating this blog, mostly due to limited time, but also because the last major work of fiction I read was a behemoth.  John Dos Passos's U.S.A. trilogy, made up of The 49th Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money clock in at well over 1000 pages and, I feel, makes a strong case for the War and Peace of North America.  Dos Passos released these three novels over the course of several years but, following the original plan that he laid out, I read them as a single whole and in retrospect feel that this is truly how it was intended to be read.

Ross on Rimbaud

I can't begin writing about Kristin Ross's The Emergence of Social Space without saying how exciting I found it.  No dry literary and cultural criticism, Ross lets the dynamism of her subjects come through in her writing, presenting unique insights along the way.  Ross writes of two events, linked by time, that transform the notion of space: the Paris commune and Arthur Rimbaud's poetic life.  I say linked by time and not by direct participation because rather than try to present her own take on the debate over Rimbaud's presence at the Paris commune, she eschews this question altogether by focusing on the similarities between the commune and Rimbaud in terms of changing attitudes toward society.

A Reminder from a Neocon

There is a human tendency (I'm loathe to ever think of things in terms of human nature which, by implication, is unchangeable) that causes people to utter pronouncements on subjects they know nothing about and refuse to subject these beliefs to the test.  There seems to be an element of pride that prevents people from appearing ignorant on a topic of which they truly know little.  This causes individuals to look ridiculous in the face to reality at the best of times and can lead to disaster when formulated into policy on a state level.  The list of problems caused by the latter kind is long as the earliest age of the historical record.

Fromkin's Middle East

David Fromkin's A Peace to End All Peace presents one of the most detailed and thorough portraits of the creation of the Modern Middle east out of the dissolution of the Ottoman empire.  It also presents a harrowing picture of modern diplomacy that, as the recent wikileaks communications show, is still prevalent.  Both aspects are relevant today as the tug-of-war of politics is played out.

The Transgressive Pierre Guyotat

In 1965 Pierre Goyotat's Tomb for 500,000 Soldiers was published.  It is extraordinarily transgressive, disturbing and violent.  However, it was received well enough to garner a following among the French intellectual community so that when his next novel was faced with restrictive sales regulations public figures such as Sartre, Genet, Blanchot, de Beauvoir, among many others, came to Goyotat's defence.  After my own reading of Tomb I cannot but feel that the praise reflects an idiosyncratic trend in mid-twentieth century French thought rather than a more lasting contribution to thought and literature.

William James's Gamble

William James' essay The Moral Equivalent of War (1906), which can be accessed here, provides a glimpse into what is most optimistic and most naive in American thought.  James felt that the direction that the world was going would lead to a predominantly socialistic system around the world.  Along with this, the willingness of nations to engage in expensive, destructive conflict would fade.  However, he also writes that this may not be successful, or even desirable, if the psychological impetus toward the "martial type of character" isn't given an outlet.  James, an avowed pacifist, makes the admittedly paradoxical claim that tied into the horrors and destruction of war there is an element of it that is conducive to building a moral edifice.

An Appeal for Feedback

After nineteen posts I see that I've had visitors from around the world stop by, but I've yet to see a comment on any of the posts thus far.  While an inner dialogue is always important, the reason I started this blog was to try and generate interpersonal dialogue.  Whether the style reveals it or not, I always write with the intention of the post being a starting point in a conversation, not a final statement.

If you're here on a repeat visit please take a minute to let me know why this blog appeals to you.  If you're stopping by for the first time let me know if you'll be back and why or why not.  In either case, constructive feedback is always appreciated.

Remember, if you really like what's here the "follow" link is only a mouse-click away!