2025 Readings 52

 As we've discussed, I'm being a little flexible in counting readings in this Year of Readings Dangerously (just as I'm also forcing myself to read books that I wouldn't normally tackle). Recently I finished a Great Course series on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby that was written and delivered by my good friend Sheila Liming. She discussed a series of the background issues (economic, class, gender, sex, fashion) that would enrich the experience for someone new to The Great Gatsby. I've read the novel a couple times but have never completely warmed to it (as all right-thinking individuals know, Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio is the greatest American novel). Sheila has definitely convinced me to take another look at The Great Gatsby. Her course is highly recommended (as are her books).

Surviving the Heat

 Was I was gone I missed some terribly dreadful weather here in Vermont. It was in the mid-90s, while it was in the 40s in Alberta for some of the time. All I experienced of it was coming back to a stifling 84 inside the cabin (slowly our weak air conditioner is making things livable, to the relief of the cats). My daughter-in-law Ali sent me this picture of my son. They had tracked down a little stream to help survive the heat.

I absolutely love this picture. It really captures so much about him.

2025 Readings 51

 Yesterday I made it back from my second trip over the summer, and I'm looking forward to not making another one for a while. I had a great time, but I'm also exhausted, and I'm looking forward to devoting the rest of the summer to finishing the Epics book (and, happily, I wrote every day that I was away). I do not have nearly enough time at the moment to get caught up on everything (I'm already behind on the Portugal trip I took three weeks ago), but let me toss in a few posts, which I might flesh out down the road.

Before I left for Alberta I finished Natsume Soseki's Kokoro. Janet had read it years ago, although I think I stumbled across it on my own. It was interesting to get her take on it (one of the many great strengths of our relationship is endless discussions about literature). I really liked Kokoro at the beginning and the end, although it wavered a bit in the middle, which was interesting but also went into more detail than it probably needed to do in order to fill in a backstory. Nevertheless, it had some wonderful moments, and makes me want to visit Japan even more. With that in mind, let me share the last couple pages, which seemed painfully Japanese. A character simply referred to as Sensei, is explaining in a letter to a younger friend why he had decided to kill himself:

   It was two or three days later that I decided at last to commit suicide. Perhaps you will not understand clearly why I am about to die, no more than I can fully understand why General Nagi killed himself. you and I belong to different eras, and so we think differently. There is nothing we can do to bridge the gap between us. Of course, it may be more correct to say that we are different simply because we are two different human beings. At any rate, I have done my best in the above narrative to make you understand this strange that is myself.

   I am leaving my wife behind me. It is fortunate that she will have enough to live on after I am gone. I have no wish to give her a greater shock than is necessary. I intend to die in such a way that she will be spared the sight of my blood. I shall leave this world quietly while she is out of the house. I want her to think that I died suddenly, without reason. Perhaps she will think that I lost my mind: that will be all right.

   More than ten days have gone by since I decided to die. I want you to know that I spent most of the time writing this epistle about myself to you. At first, I wanted to speak to you about my life; but now that I have almost finished writing this, I feel that I could not have given as clear an account verbally, and I am happy. Please understand, I not not write this merely to pass the time away. My own past, which made me what I am, is a part of human experience. Only I can tell it. I do not think that my effort to do so honestly has been entirely purposeless. If my story helps you and others to understand even a part of what we are, I shall be satisfied. Only recently, I was told that Watanabe Kazan postponed his death for a week in order to complete his painting, Kantan. Some may say that this was a vain sort of thing to do. But who are we to judge the needs of another man's heart? I do not write simply to keep my promise to you. More compelling than the promise was the necessity which I felt within m to write this story.

   I have now satisfied that need. There is nothing left for me to do. By the time this letter reaches you, I shall probably have left this world - I shall in all likelihood  be dead. About ten days ago, my wife went to stay with her aunt in Ichigaya. The aunt fell ill, and when I heard that she was short of help I sent my wife there. Most of this long document was written while she was away. Whenever she returned, I quickly hid it from her.

   I want both the good and bad things in my past to serve as an example to others. But my wife is the one exception - I do not want her to know about any of this. My first wish is that her memory of me should be kept as unsullied as possible. So long as my wife is alive, I want you to keep everything I have told you a secret - even after I myself am dead.

 

2025 Readings 50

 I suppose it's appropriate that my 50th book, which I guess is some sort of milestone, read of 2025 if Luis Vaz de Camoes's The Lusiads. It is considered to be the national epic of Portugal, and was published in 1572. I've been meaning to read it for some time, and I have a couple copies, but was finally inspired to read it because, in a wild flight of fancy (or maybe not so wild flight of fancy), I figured out a role that it could play at the thematic essay at the end of my chapter on Virgil's Aeneid. In some ways, that is a very natural fit. Camoes, like Virgil, intended to write a work that would celebrate the greatness of their homeland, with Virgil building upon Homer, and Camoes building upon Virgil. Consider this opening, "Arms are my theme," which is obviously inspired by Virgil's opening to the Aeneid, "Wars and a man I sing." The opening continues:

Arms are my theme, and those matchless heroes 

Who from Portugal's far western shores 

By oceans where none had ventured 

Voyaged to Taprobana and beyond, 

Enduring hazards and assaults 

Such as draw on more than human prowess 

Among far distance people, to proclaims 

A New Age and win undying fame.

While Virgil built upon the legend of Aeneas, who, as we know, plays a not insubstantial role in the Iliad, to tell his tale, Camoes refashions the story of Vasco da Gama to construct his own epic. It's definitely recommended, and not simply because of my love of Portugal.

Pastelaria Bénard

 If I ever finish this wretched Epics book - and if by some miracle it's published - I really should thank the good folks who run the Pastelaria Benard in Lisbon. I think if I could write there everyday I would have finished this book years ago.

I can knock off three hours writing at an outdoor table there like nobody's business.

Views That Never Grow Old

 Over the decades I've tended to bail off the most direct route and take backroads, partially to break up on the monotony but also because they're simply more interesting (even if it adds to the overall time of the trip). This even includes driving back and forth in our little neck of the woods. When it's not mud season I will often take North Street up the hill out of Montpelier, which provides some lovely views of the Green Mountains in the distance.

There are some things that I'll miss when we move overseas.

Craig

 Janet and I had a wonderful surprise the other day when my long time friend Craig stopped by on his way back from a bike ride. Happily, he drove his car here, as compared to biking out to our cabin in the wilderness. It was a lovely visit, and we had a ball. I think it's starting to dawn on all my friends that I'm actually quickly heading towards retirement, and it's inspiring more visits (which is a blessing).

We certainly had a lot to talk about, in addition to teaching together for twenty years we also travelled together to China and Jordan. Too many stories.