Bird quotes St. Augustine on watching sad plays, though you could replace the emotion with another one to the same effect. “It was a sign of my desolation that I loved theatrical emotions, and looked for occasions to empathize with fake, impersonated misery.”
All posts by Phil
This is no way to earn a living, says prize-winning poet.
The title of this post is stolen from an article referred to by Sean O’Brien and describes part of his point in this Guardian article on the vocation of poetry. “Poetry is an imaginative necessity for the poet, for good or ill,” he writes. He believes the creative process should be encouraged and taught by accomplished authors.
From the poet’s point of view (the other forms can look after themselves) this [encouragement] needs to be combined with a braking effect, a reminder that the point is not in the first place to publish but to learn to write as well as possible, to read everything, to think in terms of language rather than attitude, to master form, and not to mistake self-expression for art.
Publication may follow in time, but there are usually, and rightly, dues to be paid first, and maybe in perpetuity.
[via Books, Inq.]
One Big Loo
Mommy, why is that house shaped like a toilet?
The owner is an activist, dear.
Arson and Kid Lit
World reviews Brock Clarke’s An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England.
Sherry reviews N.D. Wilson’a Leepike Ridge.
Limbaugh to Auction Senator Reid’s Letter
Rush Limbaugh’s response to Senator Harry Reid’s attempt to censor him is to auction off the letter Mr. Reid sent to ClearChannel on eBay. Proceeds will go to The Marine Corps – Law Enforcement Foundation, which “encourages the spiritual, moral and intellectual development of children through education.” Heh, heh, heh.
Sold Out Audience for “The God Delusion” Debate
It appears the debating Oxford fellows had a warm reception in Birmingham. Recordings of the debate will be available soon from Fixed-Point Foundation, and it will be rebroadcast tomorrow on WMBW at 3:00 p.m. eastern. You can listen online, if you are not in southeast Tennessee during that time.
Editor Naomi Riley reports on her experience at the debate in today’s Opinion Journal.
Perhaps Mr. Dawkins was surprised by this reception. He recently referred to the Bible Belt states as “the reptilian brain of southern and middle America,” in contrast to the “country’s cerebral cortex to the north and down the coasts.” This debate marks the first time Mr. Dawkins has appeared in the Old South. Maybe his publishers suggested it would be a good idea. After all, “The God Delusion” and similar atheist tracts have been selling like hotcakes (or buttered grits) down here.
But why? Are Christians staying up late on Saturday night to read these books and failing to show up at church on Sunday morning, as Mr. Dawkins might hope? So far, the answer is no, according to Bill Hay, senior pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church just outside of Birmingham. He tells me that there hasn’t been much of an exodus from his church as a result of these books. But he does think that his congregants are aware of them and want to know how to respond to such arguments. He notes that 200 men show up to church at 6 a.m. once a week for a class on Christian doctrine.
[Thanks to Dave Lull]
Friday Survey: Coffee
What kind of coffee do you drink? Whatever is available, sometimes known as “whatevrsthare”? Only the best? Have you clicked through the Boca Java ads which seem to be everywhere nowadays? Or you gambled on the link from your favorite lit-blog and bought something through Chattanooga’s own Rarecoffee.com?
For me, I have Maxwell House at the office, but don’t drink much of it. I sip it regularly and throw out most of my cup. The most coffee I drink comes from home where I grow it in my backyard and roast in my kitchen. Yep. And have you heard that too much coffee makes you an irresponsible liar prone to poor judgment? It’s true! The Nobel Peace Prize judges are well-known for their high coffee consumption.
Anyway, I’m currently drinking something organic from Sumatra which I bought at the Fresh Market. What are you drinking? Or if you’d rather, what would you prefer to be drinking?
Book Art Cutting Away the Extra
Wow. This artist has cut away pages of books to reveal their contents.
Nobel for Literature: Doris Lessing
The 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature goes to Doris Lessing, born to British parents in Iran (formerly Persia) in 1919, “that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire, and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny.” Nobel’s Swedish Academy writes:
The Golden Notebook (1962) was Doris Lessing’s real breakthrough. The burgeoning feminist movement saw it as a pioneering work and it belongs to the handful of books that informed the 20th-century view of the male-female relationship. It used a more complex narrative technique to reveal how political and emotion conflicts are intertwined.
Harper Collins has a reading guide to The Golden Notebook.
In Honor of the Thinklings
Hey, hey! That’s a monkey–a Japanese macaque monkey in the snow, to be exact. More monkeys can be seen here.