Short

melancolía y prosa

I'm currently reading "The Tin Drum" by Günter Grass and the epic poem "Idylls of the King" by Lord Tennyson. While I'm enjoying both these reads I decided to showcase the work of a young caribbean musician, writer and poet, Babá. He writes mostly in spanish although he is a fluent english speaker and writer. He writes mostly poems, short stories, and compact ideas and impressions.

I begin with an untitled short story.

The end?

Before Sunday passes, a brief overview of the rest of the essays in the The Immense Journey.

The Slit

"Through how many dimensions and how many media will life have to pass? Down how many roads among the stars must man propel himself in search of the final secret? The journey is difficult, immense, at times impossible, yet that will not deter some of us from attempting it. We cannot know all that has happened in the past, or the reason for all of these events, any more than we can with surety discern what lies ahead. We have joined the caravan, you might say, at a certain point; we will travel as far as we can, but we cannot in one lifetime see all that we would like to see or learn all that we hunger to know."

The Flow of the River

"If there is magic on this planet it is contained in water. (...) As for men, those myriad little detached ponds with their own swarming corpuscular life, what were they but a way that water has of going about beyond the reach of rivers? I, too, was a microcosm of pouring rivulets and floating driftwood gnawed by the mysterious animalcules of my own creation." 

The Great Deeps

"All of the tremendous differences between living forms have been achieved only by the elaboration of devices for the maintenance of that inner nourishing liquidity in which cells can live and grow within a certain narrow range of tolerance. Nor for nothing has the composition of mammalian blood led to our description as 'walking sacks of sea water.' Nor for nothing did the great French physiologist Bernard comment that 'the stability of the interior environment is the condition of free life.'"

The Snout

"The day of the Snout was over three hundred million years ago. Not long since I read a book in which a prominent scientist spoke cheerfully of some ten billion years of future time remaining to us. He pointed out happily the things that man might do throughout that period. Fish in the sea, I thought, birds in the air. The climb all far behind us, the species fixed and sure. There is something wrong with our worldview. It is still Ptolemaic, though the sun is no longer believed to revolve around the earth. We teach the past, we see farther backward into time than any race before us, but we stop at the present, or, at best, we project far into the future idealized versions of ourselves. We see through human eyes alone. We see ourselves as the culmination and the end, and if we do indeed consider our passing, we think that sunlight will go with us and the earth be dark. We are the end. For us continents rose and feel, for us the waters and the air were mastered, for us the great living web has pulsated and gown more intricate. (...) Perhaps the old road through the marsh should tell us. We are one of many appearances of the thing called Life; we are not its perfect image, for it has no image except Life, and life is multitudinous and emergent in the stream of time." 

How Flowers Changed the World

"Without the gift of flowers and the infinite diversity of their fruits, man and bird, if they had continued to exist at all, would be today unrecognizable. (...) The weight of a petal has changed the face of the world and made it ours."

Man of the Future

"We men of today are insatiably curious about ourselves and desperately in need of reassurance. Beneath our boisterous self-confidence is fear– a growing fear of the future we are in the process of creating." 

Little Men and Flying Saucers

"Darwin saw clearly that the succession of life on this planet was not a formal pattern imposed from without, or moving moving exclusively in one direction. Whatever else life might be, it was adjustable and not fixed. It worked its way through difficult environments. It modified and then, if necessary, it modified again, along roads which would never be retraced. Every creature alive is the product of a unique history. The statistical probability of its precise reduplication on another planet is so small to be meaningless. Life, even cellular life, may exist out yonder in the dark. But high or low in nature, it will not wear the shape of man. That shape is the evolutionary product of a strange, long wandering through the attics of the forrest roof, and so great are the chances of failure, that nothing precisely and identically human is likely ever to come that way again. (...) In the nature of life and in the principles of evolution we have had our answer. Of men elsewhere, and beyond, there will be none forever."

The Bird and the Machine

"This is the great age, make no mistake about it; the robot has been born somewhat appropriately along with the atom bomb, and the brain they say now is just another type of more complicated feedback system. The engineers have its basic principles worked out; it's mechanical, you know; nothing to get superstitious about; and man can always improve on nature once he gets the idea. (...) On the other hand the machine does not bleed, ache, hang for hours in the empty sky in a torment of hope to learn the fate of another machine, nor does it cry out with joy nor dance in the air with the fierce passion of a bird."

All quotes taken from The Immense Journey by Loren Eiseley, a Vintage Book edition, 1959.

The hoax, man's lonely and supreme ascent, and the brain

This month seems to have fled past me. Yet before March closes, and feeling April is upon us, I want to speak a little more about Loren Eiseley's The Immense Journey. Today, Friday 29th of March, I bring somewhat and briefly into focus 3 essays from the book.
1. The Real Secret of Piltdown
2. The Maze
3. The Dream Animal
These essays caught my attention because each of them deals with lingering scientific issues and pertinent inquiries. All three of the essays are related to one another, specifically in the manner in which they deal with man's lonely and supreme ascent.

Starting with the first one on the list, "The Real Secret of Piltdown" discusses the Piltdown Hoax (the greatest hoax in the history of science). This hoax, subsequently provides the thesis question of the essay, how did man get his brain? Through the arguments of Charles Darwin and his fellow contemporary, Alfred Russel Wallace, Eiseley expands the matter on the development of the human brain, which is explored through it's variants. A.R. Wallace, a scientist, proponent of natural selection and evolution "challenged the whole Darwinian position on man by insisting that artistic, mathematical, and musical abilities could not be explained on the basis of natural selection and the struggle for existence." This is the challenge that is met head on between Darwin,Wallace and also Eiseley in this essay, keeping the focus on the central point: how, why, when, where is the development of the brain. Add to Loren Eiseley's exploration within the arguments, scientific discoveries and the advancements at the disposal of current scientific inquiries, it suffices to say that the same author adds"today we can make a partial answer to Wallace's question. Since the exposure of the Piltdown hoax all of the evidence at out command– and it is considerable– points to man, in his present form, as being one of the youngest and newest of all earth's swarming inhabitants."

"Man of today, the atomic manipulator, the  aeronaut who flies faster than sound, has precisely the same brain and body as his ancestors of twenty thousand years ago who painted the last Ice Age mammoths on the walls of caves in France."

The next gleam of reason following Eiseley's argument, is the sensible conclusion that "it is man's ideas that have evolved and changed the world about him." From this statement the human being is proved to be a creature dependent on society, unable to develop alone.

"Creature of dream, he has created an invisible world of ideas, beliefs, habits, and customs which buttress him about and replace for him the precise instincts of the lower creatures. (...) The profound shock of the leap from animal to human status is echoing still in the depths of our subconscious minds. It is a transition which would seem to have demanded considerable rapidity of adjustment in order for human beings to have survived, and it also involved the growth of prolonged bonds of affection in the sub-human family, because otherwise its naked, helpless offspring would have perished. (...) Man's competition, it would thus appear, may have been much less with his own kind than with the dire necessity of building about him a world of ideas to replace his lost animal environment.

I am sure it can be derived from the previous paragraphs briefly covering "The Secret of Piltdown", a denotation that these three essays are dense and layered with information. The following two essays are no exception.

Source: http://library.thinkquest.org/29178/media/treeolif.jpg

"The Maze" covers the controversy piqued within the scientific community which followed the publishing of the previous Piltdown essay. It leads to present before the reader the Oreopithecus (the enigma), and his usage for providing the missing link previously deviated by the Piltdown hoax. From here stemmed two divergent schools concerning the search for the the crucial puzzle piece that will unite the tree of life, "the school of the little-man and that of the ape-man." In the end, the Oreopithecus is proven not to lead towards the missing puzzle piece. In the least, it is far less likely for the Oreopithecus to be the evidence that has long been searched for.

"The Dream Animal" picks up the recurrent exploration of "the mystery which enshrouds the rise of the human brain." Loren Eiseley uses   Progeria, premature aging, a curious and relatively unknown disease, to reveal how it is an indication of an internal clock "capable of running fast or slow, shortening life or extending it and, like the more visible portions of our anatomy, being subjected to evolutionary selection." This clock has paved the path for the growth of rare, particular and specialized organs. Included within the bracket of these organs is the human brain. This organ grows with greater rapidity than our nearest living relative, the great apes.

"When we are born, our brain size is about 330 cubic centimeters, only slightly larger than that of a gorilla baby. This is why human and anthropoid young look so appealingly similar in their earliest infancy. A little later, an amazing development takes place in the human offspring. In the first year of life its brain trebles in size. It is this peculiar leap, unlike anything else we know in the animal world, which gives man his uniquely human qualities. When the leap fails, as in those rare instances where the brain does not grow, microcephaly, "pinheadedness", is the result, and the child is then an idiot."

The essay proceeds to place in perspective the minute's clock of what is known of human evolution in comparison to the Astronomical clock, which spans a much, much longer millennia. Will we find the key to our human brain clock?

"For the first time in four billion years a living creature had contemplated himself and heard with a sudden, unaccountable loneliness, the whisper of the wind in the night reeds. Perhaps he knew, there in the grass by the chill waters, that he had before him an immense journey. Perhaps that same foreboding still troubles the hearts of those who walk out of a crowded room and stare with relief into the abyss of space so long as there is a star to be seen twinkling across those miles of emptiness."

Personally, all three essays offer great insight and information to be pondered. They both dually echo the previous essay spoken of a week or so back, The Secret of Life, as well as answer many lingering questions concerning our human journey. Aside from the density of information in the essays, I want to transmit the enlightenment they provide, the benefit enjoyed while reading them, the delight, the sensible, the educational element found while reading line after line of Eiseley's words.

I know I've filled this article more than usual but I hope I have conveyed wonder, and that you, reader, are infected and propelled to read Loren Eiseley, he is definitely worth the time.

"one mask of many worn by the Great Face behind"

The Secret of Life and its' multitudinous alleyways. This last article in The Immense Journey deals with the search for the secret, the key that would unlock the enigma. Within the pages the essay develops is the longing to discover the unanswered questions and the dead ends reached in the trajectory, yet towards the end there gleams a tiny speck of hope for the journey. This search is not merely concerning our origins but the tiny components that make up the earth, ourselves and organic beings around us, spanning eons back into the birth of this planet earth.

"...the wonderful correlation of parts, the perfect adaptiation to purpose, the individually vanished and yet persisting pattern..."

"It seemed clear that life was a material manifestation. Somewhere, somehow, sometime, in the mysterious chemisty of carbon, the long march toward the talking animal had begun."

Honestly, aside from the faulty dead ends described in the article, the misconceptions of having found the key by respected scientists, and the sensationalization of the search by the media, the article circles around the same theme: the search for the key to the secret of life and Loren Eiseley's own attitude and actions towards the search.

 "Nevertheless, as the years passed, the secret remained locked in its living jelly, in spite of larger microscopes and more formidable means of dissection."

One aspect I found interesting is the mention of the media, and how it disproportions the work of scientists and confounds the public. It is sadly comical that the same problems faced today in biology, archaeology, anthropology, physics, and scientific endeavors were being faced early on. Explicitly, media interpretation and the sensationalization of discoveries and scientific endeavors. I have no doubt in my mind that a great percentage of the world population has misconceptions concerning how evolution works, and what has been discovered concerning the evolution of this rock, the human species along with the other species.
This problem is related to the formation of kids in society, much like Michio Kaku and Neil Degrasse Tyson and others vociferate. Like this video:


I will end with some quotes from Loren Eiseley's essay.

"I am sure now that life is not what it is purported to be and that nature, in the canny words of a Scotch theologue, 'is not as natural as it looks.' (...) If the day comes when the slime of the laboratory for the first time crawls under man's direction, we shall have great need of humbleness."

*All quotes are from Loren Eiseley's The Immense Journey, Vintage Books 1959 edition. Title quote by Thomas Hardy, which is included in the end of Eiseley's essay.

A hundred battles, a hundred losses

This month I begin with Ch'ae Man-Shik's short story "A Ready-Made Life" translated by Kim Chong-un and Bruce Fulton. It was first published in 1934 in the journal Shindonga. As for the writer, he is a novelist, an essayist, and a critic, often considered a satirist. His works are widely known.

As for the short story itself, I came across it as a follower of ktlit.com. A website dedicated to the translation and dissemination of Korean literature.

The story itself immediately opens with an interview. P is an unemployed, educated man being interviewed and denied by K. The context of the drama is within the early 20th century, the dawn of modernization, after the rise of intellectuals and a propagation of education, post-Japanese Imperial Period, during the evident domination of Japan over Korea. Now, from the rejection given to P proceeds a dejected summation of his living situation, the harsh condition in which he is forced to live, eating sparingly, not being able to pay his room rent, leading a meagerly existence, etc. I add that the description and the existential manner in which the character recounts his surroundings and his life has a touch of Dostoyevsky. P is also a divorced man with a son. Although his son does not live with him at the opening of the story, it is made clear that due to his family's inability to continue to care for him, they will be sending P's son over to him in Seoul. Yet they do not know that P is hardly able to support himself as he has not found a job.

Japanese woodblock print, The First Sino-Japanese War. Japan in Korea.
Source: http://www.japanfocus.org/-Wada-Haruki/2934

In the trajectory of the story there are very few characters presented, the two introduced after P, are also unemployed and hopeless, friends of the protagonist. Both have likewise been educated and are intellectual men. The dejection of all the characters is poignantly felt. And the irony is that being educated and an intellectual is a void endeavor leading to unemployment. The stark line between the country as a passing farming nation, and moving unto becoming modernized is evident. The job market is saturated, yet those that have been educated cannot make themselves nor even know how to go about retroceding and forming part of the farming population. The educated intellectuals are displaced.

"Ready-made commodities turned shopworn."

The story can be divided in two seamless parts, the first if the already described rejection during the interview and the description of P's existence, then, P's confrontation with a prostitute.

Drunk and in a bar, P and both of his friends go to a brothel. There P is thrown, by his two friends, towards a young prostitute. He panics and runs out when she is willing to sell her integrity, her sex, for a beggarly price. This leads to a digression on the worth of integrity, in which P spends a considerable time debating.

The story ends in an ambiguous manner. It is clear P does not want his son to be educated and fall into the same trap he himself fell and therefor, what becomes of P as he takes in his son is left open-ended.

Why do I recommend this short story by Ch'ae Man-Shik? Because the themes, albeit during a time that has passed, are still relevant today. The tone of P's hopelessness, the use of education during unstable economic times, the value of a person's integrity in regards to money, are all still current. How much is integrity and virtue worth?

"You can't put your heart into work if your stomach is empty." 

The story itself can be found here, in PDF form. It is well worth a read. 

DAY AFTER PILL

–Tu eres mi Antonio Banderas.
–Y tú eres mi Gina Lollobrigida.

Source: http://resources.roomsnet.com/2010/02/19/
check-out-the-diviest-nightlife-in-nyc/

Así comienza el cuento Day After Pill que forma parte de los cuentos en Amoricidio y que está dentro de la colección de UGDU. Escogí este cuento por cualidades que lo hicieron resaltar en mi memoria, el ritmo acelerado de la narración, la manera en que integra al lector con las imágenes que presenta y los matices que revela en las subsiguientes lecturas. De inmediato, el cuento lanza al lector en un torbellino de acciones durante una noche de música, baile, bebida, cigarrillos, besos, y palabras. El protagonista es un extranjero que lleva poco tiempo en la ciudad al igual que la mujer que el conquista. Ella es una turista italiana. Al pasar de la noche, y ya suficientemente ebrios como para estar enamorados, los dos salen de la barra/discoteca a coger un taxi y para continuar en otra parte.

"Se retiraron borrachitos muchísimo antes de la hora triste para pescar un taxi amarillo que los llevara a la guarida de ella porque Tú eres mío cuesta notte, le había susurrado ella con la boca fría en una mordida de oreja y antes de irse se dieron un beso frente al local..."

Srouce:http://blog.petaflop.de/2008/02/

Después de esperar unos minutos, terminan en la casa de ella bebiendo más vino. Al final, antes de la llegada de la hora triste, tienen relaciones sexuales. De ahí el título del cuento, porque en pleno acto se rompe el condón. Al instante se cae el velo y todo se ve como verdaderamente es, la atmósfera cambia, y los dos, serios, salen disparados para el hospital más cercano para sacar el resto del profiláctico dentro de ella. Ya ha salido la luz del día y los dos se ven como son, no con los ojos embriagados y susceptibles de la noche anterior, sino realizan que ni el ni ella son tal como la bebida y la noche los hizo creer. La enfermera les informa que están fuera de peligro y le da una pastilla del día siguiente a ella, para evitar complicaciones. En ese momento estallan llantos, sirenas de policías y bomberos. Cuando se percatan, las noticias anuncian que Nueva York esta bajo amenaza porque las torres gemelas, el World Trade Center, debido a los dos aviones que estallaron contra ellas, están en llamas y derrumbándose. Justo en ese momento el protagonista mira a la turista, le agarra la mano, y la invita a desayunar.

–Mierda.
–Questo e veramente un casino, dijo ella bastante molesta.

Uno de los factores que me atrajo al cuento, el cual ya mencioné brevemente, es el ritmo acelerado. Tan pronto empieza, las palabras parecen correr una tras otra, mientras tanto dibujando imágenes breves y marcadas. Uno tiene la sensación inmediata de la noche, la bebida, los besos oliendo a alcohol y cigarrillo, la espontaneidad, las palabras coquetas, miradas. Aparte del estilo, el final le da un toque sombrío y a la vez unificador. Los dos habiéndose confrontado, a la luz del sol, extranjeros y diferentes, frente a esta tragedia que ocurrió tan cerca se cierra la brecha que los distancio. Puede que tenga o no tenga suma importancia la substancia que contiene el cuento, me supongo que eso queda a manos de la perspectiva individual, no obstante, yo soy de la opinión que su relevancia reside en la demostración de que la vida nunca acaba de sorprendernos, de cogernos a la imprevista, y sobre todo de unirnos como  humanos.

UGDU y Otros Relatos: Rey Andújar

Hace varios meses atrás me regalaron, por pura casualidad, tres libros de una editorial local, La Secta De Los Perros. Estos tres libros yo los puse a un lado y me olvidé de ellos por completo, hasta ayer. En la búsqueda de material para este mes me ha dado con ojear los libros y uno de ellos, de cuentos, en particular, que se titula, UGDU Y Otros Relatos por Rey Andújar. El autor es un bailarín, dramaturgo, cuentista y novelista contemporáneo de la República Dominicana. Pues, da la segunda casualidad de que sus relatos me han cautivado por completo. Por lo tanto, el enfoque de este mes estará sobre los relatos de Rey Andújar.

El primer cuento, del cual hablaré hoy, se titula Doña Ana, Los Gallos Y El Monstruo De Samaná. La localización del trama se plasma justo al principio, todo ocurre en Samaná, una provincia de la República Dominicana que es peninsular. La protagonista es una vieja de doscientos años, Doña Ana, bruja y santera, llena de increíbles historias. Todo comienza cuando ella es visitada por un ángel que le demanda, de parte del Gran Hombre, que se ponga de su lado. La vieja lo niega, y luego es amenazada por un castigo. El primer castigo:

"La vieja despertó de un sueño largo. [...] Confundida salió al patio y descubrió que el sol no había aparecido. Todo era opacado por un gris pesadilla y eso la engrifó. En ese instante preciso descubrió que no podía oler el mar que tenía a sus espaldas. Se quedó muda, el mar no era mar, era un inmenso jugo de sangre, un océano de picos y plumas multicolores. Con razón los gallos no cantaron esta mañana dijo la vieja. [...] ningún conjuro, por más concentrado que fuese, iba a calmar la rabia del Gran Hombre. Se sentó triste, a esperar la única muerte unjusta: La muerte del silencio. Y quise gritar como gritas en los sueños, como cuando quieres moverte." 

Peninsula de Samaná, República Dominicana. 

Nuevamente, Doña Ana es visitada por el ángel y termina accediendo a ir a la iglesia. De aquí prosigue una larga sucesión de sueños en los cuales ella va negando todas las imágenes presentadas hasta la ultima, en la cual ella esta descendiendo al infierno. Ahí conoce al que le da la solución al castigo del pueblo, de los gallos, del silencio que la entristece y llena de soledad. Sigue las instrucciones, y el castigo desaparece al despertarse. Luego, ella se aventura a la iglesia. Pero no pudo, y a mitad de sermón se va, con las siguientes palabras:

No vuelvo a la iglesia. Reniego de ti. 

El ángel Mirtilio la visita una segunda vez, mientras ella dormía, y recibe de Doña Ana la contestación:

 Que hagan lo que les salga del forro de los cojones carajo. 

El segundo castigo de Doña Ana es el tormento que recibirá de una mujer bestia, muy parecida a la descripción del capitulo 17 del libro del Apocalipsis en el Nuevo Testamento.

Lo que sucede al llegar la bestia horrenda a Doña Ana, y el final, se los dejaré para los que se topen con el libro.

La portada del libro. 

Primero que nada, el cuento es ricamente descriptivo, las sensaciones vividas por Doña Ana son detalladamente expuestas. También, la ejecución del realismo mágico es balanceado y, en mi opinión, bello. No voy a pretender, después de haber leído el cuento varias veces, entender en su totalidad la narrativa, sería pretencioso de mi parte al igual que una mentira. Pero sí considero que el cuento merece varias lecturas y que su comprensión se plasma mejor en la psiquis que en la dialéctica. Lo que resalta entre todo es una dualidad inherente, lo malo es bueno y lo bueno es malo. Entonces, ¿qué es malo y qué es bueno? Esta gran pregunta es lo que me persiguió mientras leía. Por consiguiente, esta misma pregunta y dualidad se ve plasmada durante la cotidianidad de la vida. Mientras cada cual se encarga de hacer lo que le toca para su pan de cada día, la confrontación de lo que es bien y lo que es mal se da diariamente, ante las injusticias que ocurren con frecuencia, ante aquello "bueno" que tanto esperábamos que pasara mientras aquello "malo" nos ocurre o vice versa, ante lo malo disfrazado de bueno y, más grande que estos, ante el carácter represivo y autoritario (entre otros) que contiene la religión.

En fin, este cuento se merece una mirada bien puesta, da material para exprimir y reflexionar.

~

This month I will be focusing on a young contemporary writer from the Dominican Republic. I happened to receive his book of short fiction unexpectedly quite some time ago. But, I didn't come to read it till yesterday, as I was brainstorming ideas for this month and perusing my books. Before yesterday the book lay forgotten for months. I am incredibly glad I got around to reading it. Coming from a young writer, the book has received a good amount of acclaim. As for me, I'm captivated. The language Andújar utilizes is descriptive and contains a rich caribbean flavor, and also, magical realism. Today I started with the first short story in the book, Doña Ana, Los Gallos Y El Monstruo De Samaná. One of the major aspects that stood out from the narrative is the inherent duality presented. What is good and what is bad? Consequently, who is the one that establishes the criterias for the answers? Within the framework of these questions sits the routine, the daily life that plays out as a juxtaposition. It is here that the narrative resides and plays out, bartering from each side. Another truth is gleaned from the duality in the story, the authoritative and repressive nature contained within religion. This story deserves a read, it contains good material for contemplation.

Part Two: The Master and Margarita

I know I've been away for what it seems like a little while, but in my defense, these past two weeks have been very hectic. Though I am still just in time, for April is not yet over.

Source:
http://www.manuscriptsdontburn.org/categor/
complicites-the-master-and-margarita/page/4/

The second part of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita opens up with Margarita, this is the first time the reader gets to know Margarita first-hand, in the previous part it is only through what the Master says of her, which is little. We meet her in her own opulent house, being married to a wealthy man, reminiscing about the Master, whom she misses sorely since he disappeared, but we the reader know he's in the mental hospital. In her melancholy she decides to go to the park. There she meets Azazello, one of the devil's entourage. Once she meets him and somewhat tells him her sad story of lost love and injustice done to him, the story proceeds to get even more bizarre, but in an ironic and entertaining way. She becomes a witch, flies to a ritual where she is crowned goddess/queen, meets the devil and the rest of his possee. Along the way, she extracts revenge from the editors and writers that did the Master wrong. Towards the end of the surreal journey, now in the devil's somber chamber, while he plays chess, she pledges her devotion and asks that he bring back the Master. After a brief hesitation he does so, to her and the Master's surprise.

The story ends slightly dubiously, the story of the procurator of Judea is revisited and loose ends are tied, also, the Master and Margarita finally get to their small home we not not where, where they are to live in eternal peace. Ivan Homeless gets the ending of the Master's story and Woland leaves Moscow leaving a trail a destruction inflicted by Behemoth and Koroviev.

Behemoth and Koroviev during the famous séance. Source:
http://my.opera.com/mustainev/blog/2012/03/09/master-and-margarita-by-mikhail-bulgakov-2

Margarita the witch flying to her coronation. Source:
http://www.cafleurebon.com/galbanum-and-other-strangers-master-
and-margarita-by-michael-bulgahov-vol-a-nuit-draw/

I have reduced the second part of the book to the barest words but truly the book is a delight. First, because for those that enjoy fantasy, they will get a good does of that. Woland's magic tricks, the séance, everything he and his entourage do takes the reader's level of belief to a further level. Add to that the eerie, grotesque, yet enchanting ball that is held in Margarita's honor, where all the dead are risen from their graves and their stories are retold as they pay homage to the queen Margarita. The characters are all so colorful and poignant. I especially loved getting to know Margarita and seeing her transform into a witch. And the Master, towards the end, when he is almost reaching his eternal abode of peace, how he is described as he says farewell to the city and life he has known is reminiscent of a messiah.

"'Forever! That's a lot for a man to grasp,' whispered the Master, licking his dry, cracked lips. He listened carefully to what was going on in his soul. For a moment, his excitement seemed to turn into a feeling of deep, mortal insult. But the sentiment was fleeting. It vanished to be replaced by proud indifference and finally settled into an expectation of eternal peace. [...] 'Well, then, 'Woland said to him from high up in the saddle, 'are all the accounts settled? Have all the goodbyes been said?' 'Yes, it is over,' the Master said, calming down,  and looked directly into Woland's face without fear. [...] It had all fallen through the earth, leaving nothing but fog."

Secondly, the book is an enlightening delight because the reader is constantly faced with the weighing of good and evil. What does it mean to be evil? And likewise, what does it mean to be good? Tying this up with Mikhail Bulgakov's time and the context within which he created this book, the nation's insecurity and mistrust as everything around them was changing, the obligation to follow the imposed norm, the disappearances, all the nuances that plagued Moscow during his time as Stalin rose to power is evident. Also, another important aspect of the book is it's questioning of faith, on the veracity of faith and belied versus of non-belief. There is an interplay within these two extremes throughout the novel that ends with more questions than answers.

I highly recommend this book, it was an exciting, intriguing and revealing read. Also, there are so many awesome pictures relating to The Master and Margarita that I couldn't help posting at least three.

Part One: The Master and Margarita

-What are you, then?  -I am part of that power that always wishes evil and always performs the good. -Goethe, Faust

Source: http://www.davno.ru/soviet-posters/propaganda/poster-12.html

Continuing with Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. Part one of the novel opens up with Ivan the poet, called Homeless, discussing the veracity of the existence of Jesus. Berlioz, "chairman and editor of Moscow's largest literary journal" is asking that Ivan rewrite a poem so that it disqualifies the existence of Jesus. Immediately, Woland comes into the scene alone. This commences his entrance into Moscow along with his colorful entourage. Remember, faith and religion are not allowed in Moscow from early on in the 20th century, during Stalin's reign. The voice from the beginning is actively engaging and the chapters jump from one chaotic scene to the next as Woland and his retinue challenge and disorder the inhabitants of Moscow. Disappearances occur, which very much aligns with what was in reality happening during Bulgakov's time. If a person was found to be a hinderance on the government and its' aims, said person would "disappear". Intertwined with this present Moscow (1920's) is the retelling of Jesus's judgement in Judea but, as opposed to the New Testament perspective, from the point of view and interpretation of Pontius Pilate.

This double outline illustrated from the beginning reveals a constant interplay of beliefs which evolves within the story. Which brings to the forefront, what is truth? What is faith? Faith is suggested as a mental illness. The supernatural is also intermixed with these questions, as Woland continues to suspend the readers' and the characters' belief by means of his and his retinue's magic and trickery. Many of the characters introduced are arrested, sent to a mental hospital, transported mysteriously somewhere far, or just disappear.

"if there is no God, then may I ask who governs man's existence and all world order?"[...]"In order to govern, one needs to have a definite plan for some reasonable length of time. Allow me to ask you how man can govern anything considering that not only is he unable to plan for even a laughably short period, say a thousand years, but that he cannot even vouch for tomorrow?" -Woland

Source:
 http://www.davno.ru/soviet-posters/propaganda/poster-12.html

Woland, whom the reader, a few chapters in, can identify as the devil is also painted differently. Contrary to the preconceived concept of whom the devil is and his ruthless maleficence, this devil challenges disbelief and lacks ruthlessness, for even though a few characters do loose their lives, one is lead to see the reason behind that loss and what led to it.

Following the first chapter, Ivan Homeless is entered into a mental hospital, where he meets the Master. He is the creator and writer of the story of Pontius Pilate, it is his book banned and his writing career truncated due to the subject matter of his book, the retelling of Jesus' judgement from the view of Pilate, the judge. What struck me, among many other things in this excellent novel, is how faith, pre-notions and traditions are questioned. Jesus is not portrayed as divine either, merely as a humble rabble rouser, and vice versa, the devil is not entirely evil according to orthodox conviction.

Part one, rather than highlight one specific protagonist, sets the plot which leads to the second part and the introduction of Margarita. The action is quick and precise, and the writer is in continual sporadic conversation with the reader throughout, which in turn engages the attention.

"What other oddities transpired in Moscow that night we know not, and we certainly will not pry, especially since it is time for us to move on to the second part of this truthful narrative. Follow me, reader!"

Charles Dickens Project

Just a brief side note. I am a big Charles Dickens fan. His flare, style and colorful portrayal of humanity and of life, specifically in London, is enticing to me. Well, last year I reviewed one of my favorite Dickens book, Great Expectations, in a video. This year commemorates the 200th anniversary of his birth, 7th February 1812, hence the creation of projects celebrating this master storyteller, one in particular is the Charles Dickens Project by Xelsion Publishing. Their aim is

"to bring back the unique thrill of seeing a story take shape before your eyes, taking it one step further by combining it with the kind of revealing, honest and real-time traffic between author and reader that the instant feedback of modern social networks allows."

Well, they contacted me to write a brief article on Charles Dickens, which they will be posting shortly, and I was, of course, very much obliged and grateful. So, I'm taking this brief time and space to share this excellent project with all the readers out there that happen to stumble or follow my blog. The serialization of Great Expectations is available to download for the kindle or you can just read the chapters right from the web. Stop by the site, you might find yourself following and enjoying Great Expectaions.

Dickens and his characters.
Source: http://www.charlesdickens.xelsion.com/dickens-resources/

Links:
David Perdue's Charles Dickens
Dickens 2012
Charles Dickens Museum
A Dickensian

Graffiti de Julio Cortázar.

"Tantas cosas que empiezan y acaso acaban como un juego..."

Cada vez que leo un cuento nuevo de Julio Cortázar me confronta el talento brillante de este escritor Argentino y siempre aprendo algo relevante y nuevo. Esta semana vengo con su cuento Graffiti, es uno de sus cuentos populares, y además, soy una empedernida seguidora del movimiento de arte urbano/graffiti.

Antoni Tàpies
http://www.galleristny.com/2012/02/painter-antoni-tapies-dies-88/

Este cuento de Cortázar se trata de un artista de graffiti, durante unos tiempos turbulentos en su país, el cual no se divulga. Estos tiempo son de gran prohibición, y por consecuente, de reprimir al pueblo, de miedo y de abuso del estado contra el pueblo. Por extensión, el graffiti de cualquier forma no es permitido. Este artista, un día inesperado, se topa con otro artista, el cual el denomina como ella, deduciendo su sexo sólo por la "esencia", el trazo de sus lineas en su dibujos y los colores que utiliza. Siguiendo este encuentro, los dos comienzan una relación ficticia y a la vez real en la que los dos se siguen mediante el arte que plasman al azar por la ciudad.  Este juego que emprenden se convierte en un reto y un afán, en el cual los dos luchan por encontrarse. Pero, sucede que mientras ella le respondía a él con un dibujo los policías la atrapan. El llega tarde a la escena, sólo logrando ver como se la llevan arrestada. De ahí, el artista cae en una melancolía, a la vez sintiéndose culpable y triste por lo que le sucedió a ella. Luego de varios meses sin pintar, el sale a la calle y plasma una imagen sobre la pared de un garage. Esperando después el día entero para ver si habían borrado su graffiti, como siempre hace sin tardía, la policia. Pasado el día, al llegar la noche el se acerca discretamente a su dibujo y ve en una esquina diminuta un dibujo que no es suyo, el cual el toma como respuesta de ella.
De primera impresión este cuento es simple, pero, como suele pasar con los cuentos buenos, hay más escondido detrás de las palabras.
Éste es un grito de esperanza, una búsqueda de sosiego y un reclamo de libre expresión. El protagonista se desahoga, plasmando para la vista de todos, mediante su arte. Salir a pintar tarde en la noche, capaz de ser arrestado, y pintar sobre una pared libre de color e idea es un reto de confrontar el miedo y así domándolo. El reto lo toma el artista como forma de mantener su esperanza viva y para compartir esta esperanza con el pueblo, los cuales también sienten el mismo miedo y la misma melancolía de vivir en un país que acapara la libertad individual. Al indagar sobre la dedicación del cuento, A Antoni Tàpies, descubro que éste fue un artista durante los tiempos de Franco en España. Su arte es clasificado como doblemente modernista y post-modernista, y se interesaba por interpretar aquello que abarcaba la esfera social y publica, la libre expresión y así despertando la consciencia del espectador.  Tàpies vivió en Barcelona y murió hace unos años atrás a los 88 años. Conociendo esta información permite una mejor interpretación del cuento, dedicado a este artista español famoso e iconoclasta. Es un llamado al arte por el amor al arte como medio que debe estar modulado por la libre expresión. La próxima vez que estés vagando por la ciudad y te topes con arte urbano/graffiti, detente y mira bien, puede que te esté diciendo más de lo que percibes a simple vista.

Every time I read a new short story by Julio Cortázar I am astounded at his amazing talent that reveals imperceptible truths. This time it is his story Graffiti, it is one of his popular short stories.
It is about a graffiti artist that resides in an extremely prohibitive city, where freedom of expression is severely punished and where abuse of the police against the citizens abounds. This artist, as a way of rebelling, does graffiti, painting diverse images around the city. One day, he finds there is another artist like him that is following his trail, painting images next to his as a means of communication. This unknown artist he denominates as female by the subtle feminine nuances he perceives in the images. Following this encounter, both strive feverishly to stumble upon the other, a yearning for contact and understanding. Unfortunately, while she was responding with a graffiti to one of his, she is arrested by the police. The protagonist then falls into a melancholic stupor which he spends drinking and avoiding painting. A few months pass and he gathers the courage to go out and graffiti. He does so. That day, he spends his time discretely going back to the painting, wanting to see if it has been erased. Towards nighttime, he goes to check his painting and finds a minuscule drawing on the side of his work, which he interprets as a response from her.
Upon first impression this short story is simple but, like every good story, there is depth behind it's words.
This is a story about the freedom of expression, of art being unencumbered by state or outside influences and of the desire of unity and hope. The artist, in going out and painting, faces the fear that suppresses the masses that surround him, his art is a form of courage.

Les quatres cróniques, 1990. Fotograph: Jordi Bedmar
http://www.fundaciotapies.org/site/spip.php?rubrique865

Digging even further and investigating the dedication of the story, To Antoni Tàpies, I discovered that Tàpies is a spanish artist that lived during the time of Franco, in Spain. He died a few years ago at the age of 88. His art is considered both modernist and post-modernist, that sought to "transform the public's conscience" concerning social and public matters. It was as well, a a bastion for freedom of expression. Knowing this information allows the reader to better interpret Cortázar's "Graffiti", dedicated to this iconoclastic and famous spanish artist. It is an appeal to art for the love of art and as a medium that should be modulated by freedom of expression. The next time you, reader, find yourself confronted with a graffiti/urban art, stop and look well, it might be saying more than is easily perceptible.

Links:
Fundació Tàpies
Graffiti

Historias Que Me Cuento de Julio Cortázar

Un hombre tiene que tener sus lujos secretos, sus callados despilfarros, cosas que otros aprovecharían hasta la última migaja.

Comienza éste cuento, "Historias Que Me Cuento", con un narrador soñador, apto para crear cuentos, los cuales se cuenta en la oscuridad de la noche antes de dormir. A veces al lado de su mujer y muchas veces solo. Tanto así, que estos mismos cuentos se vuelven sus sueños. De aquí el narrador parte para explicar cómo elabora sus cuentos, en ellos él es en muchas ocasiones un camionero, aventurero, atravesando "montañas y rutas que daban miedo". En estas historias que crea, llenas de lo inesperado y lo esperado, el protagonista comúnmente se topa con mujeres que recoge en el camino. Viajantes solitarias que necesitan la ayuda de un camionero que las cobije de los terrores de la noche. Es en una de estas historias con la que el narrador se encuentra con Dilia, "la noche vacía y una interminable espera al borde de la ruta en la que cada pájaro nocturno era una amenaza", ella en la soledad de la penumbra al pie de unas rocas. Sucede lo esperado, conversación, beber, comer, descanso y luego sexo. Lo inesperado en todo momento es que Dilia es la que está en este sueño, no una desconocida sino una conocida y casada.

El sexo que transcurre entre ellos dos, el camionero y Dilia esta lleno de ternura y de longevidad, no de lo furtivo de la noche que suele popular el coito con el que se topa frecuentemente el camionero. Habiendo saciado su deseo, el narrador despierta del sueño para confrontar a su pareja, y con ella lo cotidiano. El se detiene pero no le cuenta el sueño a su pareja, y el día prosigue como debido.

Meses después, se reúnen las dos parejas, El y Niágara, Alfonso y Dilia. En esa noche comparten la muerte de la madre de Dilia, luego risas, bromas y coñac. En un momento, Dilia cuenta como ella se quedó extraviada y necesitada de ayuda durante ese tiempo en que viajaba a ver a su madre en sus últimos días de vida. Un camionero paró y la recogió. Este relato que ella comparte tiene dos partes, ella sólo comparte la primera con los otros. Ya tarde en la noche y bien curados con el coñac, el bebé de Dilia llora y ella corre a su lado. Aparte, mientras Alfonso y Niágara conversan y continúan bebiendo, el narrador se aparta y se dirige hacia Dilia, que le cambia el pañal a su bebé. En este instante es la tensión protagonista. El narrador la mira y ella se voltea y se miran a los ojos. El le confiesa que conoce la segunda parte de su relato, que ella se acostó con el camionero.

Ya expuesto en palabras reducidas el cuento, ahora hablaré sobre las maravillas de Julio Cortázar, como él entrelaza la realidad y la fantasía en un cuento. El juego de palabras con el cual tiende sus historias. ¿Cuál será la verdad de éste cuento? ¿Habrá sucedido de verdad el sueño del camionero? ¿Serán ellos dos, Dilia y el narrador, amantes?

En este cuento se ve claramente plasmado el deseo y lo maternal entrelazados y además, una melancolía permea cada imagen dibujada por las palabras de Cortázar. Es como si lamentara esos deseos y hasta posibles amores que no pueden llegar a florecer por circunstancias externas concretas.

This short story by Julio Cortázar, "Historias Que Me Cuento", features a dreamer for a narrator, one who weaves stories before going to sleep in order to expatriate himself from the tangible routine of daily life. These stories he creates often transform themsleves into dreams that populate his sleep. It recurs that in these dreams he is a trucker, enamored with the idea of freedom in the open road, the unexpected and the new. It so happens that in one of these stories he stumbles unexpectedly with Dilia, a woman he knows, stranded and alone at the mercy of the night. This he finds odd and surprising because the women he normally picks up in these creations of his mind are always unknown. As accustomed, he picks her up and rescues her from the rocky and solitary night. The expected occurs, conversation, drink, eat and sex. Yet, the union they share is not tainted with the customary furtiveness and insignificance that permeates his past encounters. This one holds a tenderness and longevity the narrator did not expect. Later, they sleep and he awakes to be confronted with his real and tangible woman, Niágara.

Months later, both couples, Niágara and the narrator, Alfonso and Dilia, meet for dinner and an evening of amiability. They eat, drink and share jokes over cognac. Further on in the night, Dilia retells an event that occurred to her on one of her visits to her mother during her last days of life. She was stranded, late in the night, and a trucker stopped and picked her up, rescuing her. This story had two parts, she only retold the first part to the others when her baby began crying from another room. She immediately went to the baby. The narrator finds his chance and leaves Alfonso and Niágara conversing. This is the moment when the tension seeps throughout the scene. The narrator approaches Dilia, she turns, and they both look each other in the eye and he tells her that he know the second part to her story, she slept with the trucker.

Now, what I find enchanting about this short story is the melancholy that pervades throughout the images created by Cortázar. In many ways, it's a quiet lament for impossible desires and even loves that are not able to flourish due to external concrete circumstances. All this, the maternal and desire interweaving, is once again exposed through Cortázar's excellent ability to intermingle reality with fantasy. His talent for warping time, space, the real and fantasy is latent in his sentences.

Recortes de Prensa de Julio Cortázar

"Aunque no creo necesario decirlo, el primer recorte es real y el segundo imaginario."

Yo tengo un pequeño compendio de cuentos de Julio Cortázar, Queremos Tanto a Glenda. He ido leyendo los cuentos poco a poco, siendo Cortázar un cuentista detallado y excelente, sus historias se merecen varias lecturas despacio.

En fin, siendo Marzo el mes que he escogido para dedicarle a Cortázar, comenzaré con su cuento, "Recortes de Prensa". Lo he leído ya varias veces para poder captar sus matices. Toma lugar en París. Un escultor invita a una escritora, ambos argentinos y amigos, para mostrarle sus esculturas nuevas. Luego de mostrárselas le pide que haga una escritura que las acompañe. El tema de las esculturas es la violencia y sus múltiples caras.

"Incluso la tortura, esa forma última en que la  violencia se cumple en el horror de la inmovilidad y el aislamiento."

Partiendo de aquí, la escritora le muestra al escultor, sobre una taza de café, unos recortes de prensa. En éstos recortes se relatan unos secuestros ocurridos en Argentina durante 1975-80, la Guerra Sucia de Argentina. Al leer estos recortes, las obras del escultor se ponen en perspectiva y se cuestiona de manera indirecta, ¿qué función tiene el arte ante las atrocidades reales que ocurren diariamente?
Luego de una conversación en la que se debate el tema del arte ante la sociedad, la escritora se retira a su casa. En el camino, ya tarde en la noche, ocurre una transición, un desdoblamiento de tiempo y espacio en el que ella se encuentra ante una escena de violencia doméstica, específicamente de tortura. El hilo se rompe y ella regresa a su hogar para luego, el día siguiente, escribir lo que vio. Esto es lo que le entrega al escultor para que acompañe sus esculturas.
Uno de los atributos que más me resalto del cuento es cómo Cortázar crea el desdoblamiento de tiempo y espacio. Similar a lo que hace un escultor cuando crea, moldeando, Cortázar moldea de tal manera sus palabras como para lograr transiciones imperceptibles.
El tema del cuento enfoca la cuestión del arte, en todas sus formas, y su función ante las disparidades de la vida, las injusticias. Por ésta razón, y para apreciar el estilo de este gran escritor, este cuento y muchos más de el se merecen una lectura. Con esto les dejo las palabras que le dijo el escultor a la escritora al haber leído lo que ella escribió.

"Es cierto que un escritor puede argumentar que si su inspiración le viene de la realidad, e incluso de las noticias de policía, lo que él es capaz de hacer con eso lo potencia a otra dimensión, le da un valor diferente."

I have a small compendium of short stories by Julio Cortázar, an Argentine writer, Queremos Tanto a Glenda. The short stories found therein I've slowly been reading and savouring. Cortázar is a detailed writer and his works deserve a few reads to better grasp the nuances of his stories.
Being March the month I've chosen to dedicate to this excellent writer, I begin with "Recortes de Prensa". This story takes place in Paris. A sculptor invites a writer, both Argentines and friends, to show her his new sculptures. After revealing his work to her he asks that she write a piece to accompany the sculptures. The theme portrayed in his work is violence and its' many faces.
Subsequently, the writer shows him, over a cup of coffee, newspaper cutouts relating kidnappings that occurred in Argentina during 1970-1980, the Dirty War. After reading these articles, the sculptors' art is put in perspective and to the forefront is brought into question the function of art in relation to the real and latent atrocities that occur daily.
Following a conversation in which this theme is debated, art in society, the writer parts. On her way to her house, late in the night, a transition occurs a blurring of space and time in which she, the writer, finds herself before a scene of domestic violence, specifically torture. The thread is broken and she returns to her house, later writing about what she saw. This is what she gives to the sculptor to accompany his works.
One of the aspects of the story that stood out is how Cortázar weaves the transition, the blurring of space and time. Similar to what the sculptor does when he creates his pieces, Cortázar molds his words in such a way as to create a shapely work of art, with subtle nuances and depth. This short story carries within it the question of art, in all its forms, and its function in the context of the disparities of life and the injustices. For this reason, as well as to appreciate Cortázar's style, Recortes de Prensa is worth reading, along with many of his other works.

Recortes de Prensa
Press Clippings (couldn't find online)

El Elogio de la Sombra

La estética tradicional japonesa a través de los ojos de Junichiro Tanizaki. En el ensayo escrito en 1933 por el galardonado escritor japonés, El Elogio a la Sombra, vemos claramente las palpables diferencias entre la cultura occidental y la cultura oriental. Tanizaki comienza su obra describiendo las dificultades de modernizar la estructura de una casa tradicional japonesa. La cual se ha formado y desarrollado de tal forma que obstaculiza la luz y favorece la sombra, al verse enfrentada por el clima de la isla y los materiales disponibles para los antepasados. Al presentar estas dificultades lleva al lector por el trayecto de su tesis.

http://littexpress.over-blog.net/article-18924330.html

"Occidente ha seguido su vía natural para llegar a su situación actual; pero nosotros, colocados ante una civilización más avanzada, no hemos tenido más remedio que introducirla en nuertras vidas y, de rechazo, nos hemos visto obligados a bifurcarnos en una dirección diferente a la que seguíamos desde hace milenios: creo que muchas molestias y muchas contrariedades proceden de esto."

Las contrariedades procedentes de la influencia extranjera es un aspecto que, evidentemente, Tanizaki lamenta. El tema de la estética comienza cuando entra el ejemplo de los materiales hechos de laca que usan los japoneses para comer. En como este material que es oscuro representa de manera indirecta lo que es bello para la cultura japonesa. Sobre la oscuridad y la belleza él lo explica:

"Pero eso que generalmente se llama bello no es más que una sublimación de las realidades de la vida, y así fue como nuestros antepasados, obligados a residir en viviendas oscuras, descubrieron un día lo bello en el seno de la sombra y no tardaron en utilizar la sombra para obtener efectos estéticos." 

Esta belleza, según Tanizaki, "incita discretamente al hombre a la ensoñación." La fascinación por la penumbra que seduce y produce la contemplación. Aquí es donde reside la estética japonesa. En la simple harmonía del toko no ma, ese hueco ubicado en las salas japonesas donde se pone un cuadro o un arreglo floral, cuyo funcionamiento es de añadir profundidad a la sombra. En la armonía de las geishas, los vestidos del teatro kabuki y el no, los cuales son más apreciables bajo la luz tenue de una vela, sumergidos en sombra.
He aquí donde llega a su tésis, a la culminación de sus contemplaciones en esta obra:

"Nosotros los orientales creamos belleza haciendo nacer sombras en lugares que en sí mismos son insignificantes.[...] Nuestro pensamiento procede analogamente: creo que lo bello no es una sustancia en sí sino tan sólo un dibujo de sombras, un juego de claroscuros producido por la yuxtaposición de diferentes sustancias. Así como una piedra fosforescente, colocada en la oscuridad, emite una irradiación y expuesta a plena luz pierde toda su fascinación de joya preciosa, de igual manera la belleza pierde su existencia si se le suprimen los efectos de la sombra."

Al llegar al clímax con esas palabras Tanizaki lamenta la pérdida de ésta estética tradicional al verse enfrentada con las influencias del occidente. Como, en vez de conseguir balance ante el enfrentamiento extranjero, se ve olvidada junto con su apreciación.
Interesante como nuestros conceptos varían, de país a país y de cultura a cultura. Tanizaki enfatiza lo necesario que es encontrar la armonía entre lo pasado y lo presente, entre la tradición y la modernidad.
He encontrado El Elogio a la Sombra, un ensayo revelador y seductor. Que pone en perspectiva la belleza y la penumbra.

Japanese aesthetics through the eyes of Junichiro Tanizaki in In Praise of Shadows. In this little book I stumbled upon, a spanish translation, Tanizaki makes palpable the idiosyncrasies of his native Japan. Most specifically, the concept of beauty. And how this concept, which can be seen throughout every aspect of the culture from the structure of their houses, to the materials used in daily lives, from the lacquer to writing paper, has been suffering from the influence of Western culture and their ideas of beauty and utility.

Every worm to his taste: Junichiro Tanizaki

http://booktrek.blogspot.com/2010/07/some-prefer-nettles-tanizaki-junichiro

I went to New York City. It was during thanksgiving and the weather was lovely. While there, as always, I bought quite a few books. On my last full day there I was walking down 4th ave. and I stumbled upon a bookseller with a nice selection of classics. Rummaging through the boxes I found a Junichiro Tanizaki novel and I knew I had to have it. At the moment I didn't have cash so I did the next best thing, I put the book back and walked away, hoping to find an atm. I did, a few blocks down. Money in hand, I hurried back to the bookseller, hoping to find the book still there. Thankfully, the gods were in my favor that day, or maybe there just isn't a surplus of Japanese literature aficionados. Whichever. I bought the book.
I read the novel as soon as I returned to this small island I currently live in, and it is beautiful.
"Some Prefer Nettles" is a book of contrasts. Traditions versus change and modernity. Old versus new. It presents these contrasts through the microscopic view on the demise of a marriage. An introspective panorama on the effects of disappearing traditions and the melancholic consequences these changes can have on a marriage. Misako and Kanama, the married couple, are worlds apart residing in the same house with a child in the middle. The interesting aspect of the narrative is that both are aware of their lost love and connection, both openly entertain outside lovers, yet neither of the two want to face the implications of a divorce. In the background of the story is staged the transcendental tradition of the puppet theatre, given as a backdrop to the underlying theme of the novel.
Tanizaki weaves a story of poetic nostalgia of things past, and the quality residing in those elements of traditional culture. He clearly reveals the effects a foreign culture has on a native culture. His perspective is clearly for the conservation of custom and the beauty of customs, but he presents his perspective in a non-biased manner, portraying the full spectrum of sides, the outside and the domestic. Customs as they are, sometimes gritty. There is also a very interesting comparison between the crumbling marriage and Misako's father and his mistress O-hisa, who is 30 years her senior.
Living in the globalized world we all reside it is important to grapple with these questions of what is native and what isn't. To be able to see and understand the full scope of implications of losing or conserving one's traditions as this world continues to strive for globalization. It is important to be able to know and appreciate one's indigenous historical background as well as to be able to sift through the mire of modernity that is thrown in one's way continually, so as to be able to retain the useful and discard the degenerative.
It is for all these reasons that I found Tanizaki's work beautiful and relevant besides that fact that the portrayal of the traditional Japanese puppet theatre is magnificent.

http://visualabstracts.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/some-prefer-nettles-junichiro-tanizaki-1955/

El hombre que inventó Manhattan

I finally finished Ray Loriga's "El hombre que inventó Manhattan"
and let me just say that I loved every word of it. I still stand by what I said in my earlier post, on my first impressions of the book. This is a colorful and deliciously sordid tapestry of stories that combine to give life to a city that is at once famously elusive and enticing. Beyond its' relation to the City of New York, specifically the borough of Manhattan, I find that the entire book transcends its' title and this territory in that in general and concise words it paints for the reader the diversity found in human nature especially bred in a large mass of population coexisting in a tight space. We are all related and connected, man and nature. This was most evident when I found the chapter on the rat Missy, describing it's first adventure into central park, being a young rat. Which connects to the ending entitled, "De Ratones y Hombres", where this same rat is killed by the narrator, before his sons' eyes whom had just named it Missy.  Curiously enough, this immediately brought to mind lines by the scottish poet of the Romantic period in English literature Robert Burns, "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy!" (Lines 39-42). This is from his poem "To a Mouse". There is an interesting correlation between these two different works that I find relevant and important in understanding the core of what Ray Loriga presents in this book. Besides a description of the human condition found in a city as diverse and populated as NYC it is also a testament of man at his most grotesque and real and the harsh reality of human nature.

Now, I have begun and am about 15 pages in in the philosophical book I said in my previous post I was to begin next, Théorie du Corps Amoureux: Pour une érotique solaire by Michel Onfray. So far, I love what the book proposes to discuss and analyze in the opening pages. Briefly and roughly, it proposes individual autonomy and freedom from the bounds of oppressive western cultural traditions retaking and reinstating the Greek philosophers.

Till next post...

New books

Charles Dickens' Great Expectations

This is my first video for 2011. From here on out I will be documenting my book adventures in videos. This is my first one, the editing isn't so great and there are things I want to change about it, hopefully with time I get better... Enjoy.

Currently reading

After having finished Brave New World it took me a little longer than usual to find a replacement. I looked around my library and nothing caught my eye. And for some reason unbeknownst to me I felt compelled to read Great Expectations again, Charles Dickens being one of my favorite writers. 

Yet, today as I was getting ready to leave the house I suddenly remembered a book I had bought in a used bookstore during my stay in New York  City. I was aware that the author, Wilkie Collins, was a contemporary of Mr. Dickens but I was somewhat reluctant to pick it up.

In the end I went against my original desire and began reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins and I must say, I find it very engaging. 

To start off, it is a mystery/suspense story and according to an accompanying synopsis, a very popular novel in its' time, the 19th century. So much so that Wilkie Collins' tombstone is inscribed with "author of The Woman in White..."

So far so good, I'll post the review once I'm finished.