A Wise Man Once Said....

Wisdom. Many people often associate wisdom with age. And from my initial research, it seems that the word itself has a very long lifespan, first appearing in, ironically, Beowulf in 725. It will be interesting to explore not only the origins of Wisdom due to the old history of it but also to find out how the word got the connotations of old age and someone of established knowledge or experience.

Percy Shelley and His Review of Frankenstein

Yes, the title is correct; Mary Shelley's own husband wrote a "critical" essay of her novel Frankenstein, and of course was highly favorable. Due to the length of the essay, I divided his comments on how the book excels into three main points:

1. How Frankenstein is a source of powerful emotion to the reader.
In his essay Percy says, "We are led breathless with suspense and sympathy, witnessing the heaping up of incident on incident, and the working of passion upon passion."Percy's overall point here is the emotional buildup of Frankenstein, and how despite the reader being able to predict what will happen we are still taken aback and incredibly sad and sympathetic to the victims, either the Creature or Victor.

2. The Importance of Sympathy.
As we touched upon in our class discussion with Mr. Phillips, the concept of sympathy and empathy plays a huge role in Frankenstein. Percy describes Mary's story as being able to draw on both "logical and natural minds", meaning that no matter if you see things through a logical point of view, or a purely emotional and naturalistic view, you will either sympathize with Victor, the Creature, or both.

3. The Concept of Morality.
Percy in his conclusion brings up the concept of how Frankenstein depicts the consequences of excluding someone from society, and how that forces that being, the Creature in this case, to take on evil qualities, such as selfishness and malevolence.

Chivalry in Gawain and Morality in the Bible

            One of the most important themes, arguably the most important, throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the issue of the nature and strictness of the knight’s code, better known as Chivalry. Constantly Gawain is pressed with deciding whether following his knight code is the right decision for his situation, and which section of the code he should value the most as shown by the case of the hostess’s seduction of Gawain. The theme of morality in Christianity is something that is very similar in its themes to Chivalry, not only due to the fact that much of the Chivalric code revolves around faith in God and being a good Christian, but also in the way that the stories of the New Testament define dealing with morality just as Gawain has to deal with his Chivalry. 

            The first major comparison between these two comes through Gawain’s five-pointed star, the “”pentangle” as it is called in the story, on his shield. Each point represents a virtue of his Chivalric code: Fidelity/Faith, Honesty, Courtesy, Prowess, and Generosity as given by Friar Angelo in his youtube video[i]. As with most New Testament stories, at “first, [Gawain] was faultless in his five senses” (Sir Gawain P. 127), but as the story progresses, Gawain is challenged with decisions in which he must choose what points he values most. His faith in God is tested at the beginning of his search for the Green Chapel, when “the food that he fancied was far from his plate” (Sir Gawain P. 129), and he spends all his time battling with monsters and various enemies in the wilderness, but in the end he still “prays with all his might”, just as Job was tested in the famous Bible story. Next of course is the testing of Sir Gawain's loyalty to the lord or his respect for the lady's wishes during her attempts at seducing him. Even throwing out the fact that she is trying to seduce him, which would be considered something of easy-pickings for a comparison with Christian teachings, just taking into account that he is torn between two points of his pentagon is a test not too much different from those in the Bible, such as whether one should put their faith in God first when it comes to survival in the wild.

            Ultimately, what connects these two bodies of literature is the similarity between the Chivalry defined in Sir Gawain and the way of interpreting God’s word in the New Testament. Before his experiences with the Green Knight, Gawain has a very strict way of following his code, but as the story progresses, he learns that he must use it as a guideline more than a strict law. This culminates in the Green Knight’s letting Sir Gawain go because he had essentially “confessed” to him his sins and faults, instead of cutting his head off as had been stated by the covenant between the two. Similarly, the New Testament changes the way that God’s rules and sayings are interpreted in the Old Testament by depicting a much more sympathetic and forgiving God instead of a vengeful and strict one. While this does not dissolve the Chivalric code or the Moral code of Christianity, this viewpoint is a one with a much less strict atmosphere, one that would feature even the worst sinner being given a second chance as the right thing to do above all else. The stories of being given a second chance and forgiveness are what one would call Classically Christian, and what is Sir Gawain if not a reflection of those who would have been “Classically Christian”?

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[i] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEd--eVokkw

Riddle Thou This: The Exeter Collection

Old English may seem incredibly foreign and very seriously written, but underneath this intellectual exterior there lies a soft underbelly of humor and witty writing. This is perhaps most demonstrated in the Exeter Book, which is one of the four major Anglo-Saxon literature codices (which also include Beowulf) gathered starting with the 600's and ending with the Norman invasion of 1066, which is when the book was put together and donated to a local church called the Exeter Cathedral, where it was kept. The Exeter book itself is a collection of Old English poems and riddles, of which I have chosen one for you to read to as an example, but remember since this was a collection of various artists and poets, the poems and stories all differ in a lot of thematic and stylistic parts. Many of these poems hold a lot of evidence for life during this time, as well as reflect many of the ideals and themes we saw in Beowulf.

From Maxims 1:
"In the man, martial warlike arts must burgeon; and the woman must excel as one cherished among her people, and be buoyant of mood, keep confidences, be open-heartedly generous with horses and with treasures."


"The Whale":
This time I will with poetic art rehearse, by means of words and wit, a poem about a kind of fish, the great sea-monster which is often unwillingly met, terrible and cruel-hearted to seafarers, yea, to every man; this swimmer of the ocean-streams is known as the asp-turtle.
His appearance is like that of a rough boulder, as if there were tossing by the shore a great ocean-reedbank begirt with sand-dunes, so that seamen imagine they are gazing upon an island, and moor their high-prowed ships with cables to that false land, make fast the ocean-coursers at the sea's end, and, bold of heart, climb up.
Such is the way of demons, the wont of devils: they spend their lives in outwitting men by their secret power, inciting them to the corruption of good deeds.

Third Entry: Summer Reading

I read the Charles Dickens classic A Tale of Two Cities, which is, well, a tale of two cities, and yet so much more than just that. From the unforgettable introduction to my personal favorite scene of the spilling of the wine in the street, the book is full of many moments and sweeping statements that still stick with me since I finished, a little less than 3 months ago. As for why I chose the novel, my dad actually had a copy from when he was in high school (1960!) which was a nostalgic choice just from the start. In addition, my dad usually cites Dickens as one of his favorite authors and highly suggested reading it, and as I'd never read a Dickens novel before then. The novel itself is very descriptive and the environments feel real, two of our class's biggest necessities for a good story. However, the novel ultimately fails to align itself with what it implies as the main theme of the novel, i.e. a historical fiction study of Paris/London in the French Revolution, and instead turns into a tale of two men, specifically Carton who becomes the unlikely hero. Whether one sees this as a weakness is completely subjective, depending on what you wanted from the book, or whether you prefer a novel to be exactly what it implies it should be.

 To further analyze this, we must look at one of the main characters, and arguably the protagonist of the novel, Carton. Carton is depicted at first as a loser and a drunk who seemingly does nothing to help society in any way. By the end of the novel however, Carton becomes the unlikely hero, sacrificing his life for the ones he cared about. We see his character grow and develop, which helps build our connection to him and our care for him that culminates with his heroic act in the final chapter. This subplot/possible main plot is aligned by what one would expect to be the most identifiable plot line, that of Darbey, and his attempts to walk the line in France in secrecy from the Rebels. However, as I have stressed, Carton’s culminating heroism in the final chapter overshadows this plot line. We can see this even by studying how the book ends; following Carton's death there is no resolution of Darbey and his situation.

As for the storytelling style of the book itself, as I have already hinted to the best parts of the book may be the most obvious and stereotypical ones: the beginning and the end. The beginning is fantastic for its metaphors, its contradictions, and its doubles, already paralleling one of the main themes of the book, the two cities of London and Paris during the buildup/occurrence of the French Revolution. The ending is the ultimate culmination of everything in the book, from just the event of Carton's sacrifice to his inspirational speech at the end. The seeming weirdness in the book is also something that made it such an intriguing story, such as in either the first or second chapter of the novel where the man goes crazy yelling about the man buried for 18 years.

"He lowered the window, and looked out at the rising sun. There was a ridge of ploughed land, with a plough upon it where it had been left last night when the horses were unyoked; beyond, a quiet coppice-wood, in which many leaves of burning red and golden yellow still remained upon the trees. Though the earth was cold and wet, the sky was clear, and the sun rose bright, placid, and beautiful.

‘Eighteen years!’ said the passenger, looking at the sun. ‘Gracious Creator of day! To be buried alive for eighteen years!’"

 This passage is a great example of the Dickensian style of vivid imagery and emphasis on details. This to many is a strong strength of storytelling, but to others the seemingly redundant detail may come across as unnecessary and dull at times. In a way it is ironic, because the plot of the novel itself actually lacks in details and vivid, and ultimately doesn't capitalize on what it implies as the main theme, and instead winds up with a conclusion of a disjointed plot line. A book pictured to be a historical fiction study of a time when rebellion ruled all, and death was a treasonous muttering away, instead ending up being a story of love and heroism and the ultimate sacrifice.

Second Entry: Most Memorable Books

1. Unfortunately, I can't remember the exact name of the first Lee Child Jack Reacher novel I read (I think it may be Bad Luck and Trouble). But every time I read a knew one I can always picture the first time I read one: sifting through the modest library on a cruise ship off the coast of Alaska one summer, and finally landing on the first book of one of my most favorite series.
2. All Quiet On The Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
This book left an impression on me much in the same way Angels and Demons did. I love war novels that give the "bad guys" the spotlight, and insight into the average joes of the evil empires.
3. Catcher In the Rye - J.D. Salinger
I'm sure everyone and their uncles are putting this one down, but not without reason. The first time through this novel leaves mostly all readers stunned or at least mystified, and for that reason it's a very memorable book.
4. The Bible (Not in it's entirety, but the bits and pieces I have read)
Whether your a religious man or woman or not, the stories of the Bible have some great messages. Now as a good little Catholic boy I remember reading passages from the Bible in church class after school. Then and when we studied it more advanced Freshmen year, the stories were always very relatable to me, and whether or not I believed them I always there was an interesting message behind each and every one.
5. The Odyssey - Homer
The story of the Odyssey may be oversold to some, but there is something appealing about reading something as old as the stories of Homer. The Odyssey is such a cool mythological tale that it's hard not to love and hold in your memory.

First Entry: Excellent Storytelling

Well, my two favorite books that I have read in the last couple months have also coincidentally been the ones with the best storytelling. One was a Lee Child novel (I don't know if you're familiar) which featured the lovable ex-MP Jack Reacher solving another murder/crime mystery, the other being Keith Richard's autobiography Life. Unfortunately my favorite storytelling was the Jack Reacher novel, which I happened to have left with my Grandpa in Iowa for him to read (he's also a big fan of Lee Child). So I choose a typical story from Keith Richards, who, after all the herione/cocaine/god-knows-what-else, can actually write a good novel (with some help I presume) and come across as an intellectual.
Excerpt from Keith Richard's Life, P. 270:

"It's strange, given the fact that we'd had to pull the plug on Brian in the studio three years earlier, when he was lying in a coma beside his buzzing amp, to be reminded that he was still playing on tracks early in 1969, the year of his death. Autoharp on "You Got The Silver," percussion on "Midnight Rambler." Where did that come from? A last flare from the shipwreck.
By May we were playing in his replacement, Mick Taylor, at Olympic Studios -- playing him in on "Honky Tonk Women," on which his overdub is there for posterity. No surprise to us, how good he was. Everybody was looking at me, because I was the older guitar player, but my position was I'd play with anybody. And we did the most brilliant stuff together, some of the most brilliant stuff the Stones ever did. Everything was there in his playing -- the melodic touch, a beautiful sustain and a way of reading a song. He'd get where I was going even before I did."

As you can tell from the passage, this kind of reading is music-lover material only, even more directed at the die-hard Rolling Stones fans such as myself. You gotta love the personal touch Keith adds in his writing, even if one would expect such from an autobiography. I guess what made the storytelling stand out to me was that my expectation weren't very high when I began the book. Even with his age, Keith can still bring that element of surprise out.