I've been thinking a lot about eyelids. In the Book of Job, the King James Bible gives us a memorable phrase, "the eyelids of the morning" (41:18). Both Job and God speak this phrase, which is translated by Robert Alter as "eyelids of dawn." A few days ago I came to the very end of … Continue reading The Eyelids of Job’s Daughter
I am currently taking in Robert Alter's reading of the Book of Job, in his "Art of Biblical Poetry." Alter reads Job not primarily as a text containing ideas, questions and answers but firstly as a great poet's depiction of the world and its Creator. What Alter finds is that God in his final speeches … Continue reading Robert Alter’s reading of Job
In my blog posts I've compared similar passages across different novels, and I've got several passages from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" that I want to link to other novels: "Moby-Dick," "Huckleberry Finn," "Tom Sawyer," "The Lord of the Rings," "Matilda," and one nonfiction book, Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot." Compare this declaration by King … Continue reading Esmeralda, cosmologist
During the first quarantine summer (2020), my family and I were binging heavily on the "Little House On the Prairie" television show and starting to read Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" novels. My wife, who read all those novels as a child, suggested we look into a series of young adult novels told from the … Continue reading The Birchbark House
Of the many conversations between Huck and Jim on their floating raft, one of my favorites is their discussion of how the stars came to be. Sometimes we’d have that whole river all to ourselves for the longest time. Yonder was the banks and the islands, across the water; and maybe a spark—which was a … Continue reading Huck and Jim, cosmologists
I almost skipped reading "Comanche Moon" because of some critical reviews – and it does have a lot of flaws, which I’ll get into. In the end I decided to read it because it brings back Famous Shoes, the Kickapoo tracker who was practically the best single thing about “Streets of Laredo.” And there is … Continue reading Comanche Moon
Maria didn't believe in hell. If there was a hell it came to you in life."Streets of Laredo," chapter 8 “Streets of Laredo”, the sequel to "Lonesome Dove," is so filled with cruelty and death that paradoxically, it doesn’t feel ultra-realistic; it feels theological and moral – and the environment feels otherworldly. Larry McMurtry once … Continue reading Theology and morality in Laredo
This is a first-rate work of history due to the book’s annotations and Wilder’s nonfiction voice. The editor, Pamela Smith Hill, highlights the process of turning nonfiction into fiction. There is also analysis of the relationship between memories and writing. Wilder was something of a stickler for accuracy, especially in comparison with her daughter-and-editor, Rose … Continue reading Pioneer Girl
I posted Sancho Panza's speech about the earth in the comments section of a YouTube video featuring Carl Sagan's meditations from "Pale Blue Dot." One Youtuber replied that there were similar thoughts in Cicero’s “Scipio’s Dream” and Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations.” Cicero’s “Scipio’s Dream”, part 3: And as I looked on every side I saw other … Continue reading Pale Blue Dots
October 20, 2020 A few notes on cosmology in "Don Quixote", but I'll let Sancho have the last word. In Vol. I, ch. 20, Burton Raffel's translation speaks of “the fearful sound of that water we have come searching for, which seems to smash down and hurl itself from the lofty mountains of the Moon”. … Continue reading Sancho Panza, cosmologist
