Life used to imitate John le Carré novels. Now it imitates Tom Clancy novels. As an English major, I’m not sure this represents progress. (from The Daily Beast)
Cristopher Buckley Says Something Funny
Inventing the Middle Ages
Just finished Norman F. Cantor’s Inventing the Middle Ages, about the great medievalists of the 20th century. It’s uneven, but considering the range of figures he deals with it’s understandable. He can’t be an expert on the life and work of every medievalist of the 20th century. But the weak passages are outweighed by the strong ones. Particularly striking is the book’s closing. In the last few pages, Cantor predicts a “retromedieval revival” in the coming 21st century (the book is copyrighted 1991). He also predicts an inevitable end of the modern world.
Scarcely anybody believes anymore in capitalism and socialism as value systems. We endure them as ways of social existence, as instruments for physical survival, but we draw no emotional sustenance from them—except for a handful of archaic fanatics or manipulators of vested partisan interest. So we have found our inspiration and teleologies elsewhere, in cultural systems. Since medievalism much more than classicism incorporates the religious faiths of our grandparents, as well as the artistic and erotic sensibilities of our parent’s generation, and because of the richness and diversity of the medieval world, wherein anybody can find an aspect of special significance and proximity, medievalism sustains itself and flourishes as the cultural structure of a compelling value system. In the strange world of the twenty-first century, when so much of the Victorian and modernist worlds will have been swept away into obsolescence and uselessness, medievalism bids fair to increase greatly its importance in our lives.
….
Like the Roman Empire, the modern age will crumble from the crack of inordinate greatness beyond the interest of the many and the desire of the privileged few to sustain, and in the murky streets of ruined cities and meeting grounds of a billion humble habitations, our heroes and saints will show us how to begin history anew.
I would be suspicious of his assertions, if I had not already encountered them elsewhere. Phyllis Tickle’s deeply flawed but still compelling book, The Great Emergence, also argues that the modern age, having begun with the Renaissance, is now ending. Recent events seem to verify that the systems the modern world was built on are irreparably flawed, and that new political, economic, scientific, and social models will have to be devised. In fact, I recently read an article (I can’t remember where) that used the term “social capitalism.” The author concluded that capitalism and socialism have both lost credibility, and that people are now looking for a more practical hybrid system.
Cantor makes a few other predictions, too many to list here. It will be interesting to see how accurate he ultimately is. Current events make him pretty convincing so far.
Blown Glass Siphonophores & cet.
This guy makes jellyfish, siphonophores, and such out of blown glass. The medium is such a perfect fit for the subject, I’m a bit surprised I’ve never seen anything like this before.
John Stuart Mill
But in history, as in traveling, men usually see only what they already had in thier own minds; and few learn much from history, who do not bring much with them to it’s study.
John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women
I’m taking History 11 (American History 1) right now, and have been discovering the truth of this daily over the past couple of weeks. Certain issues, most notably immigration, have drawn more questions and opinions from the class than others, and it’s from these topics, concerning which the students have some personal experience and interest, that receive the most thorough elucidation and discussion. For his part, the instructor does a good job of identifying what doesn’t click with us naturally, and stops to spend extra time on those topics that we need to be encouraged to take some interest in.
It’s perpetually astonishing to me how useful seemingly unrelated classes can be to each other. My current reading for my upcoming English class (English Literature 2 – Romantic through 20th Century) has been especially so for my History class, since they cover much of the same ground. When I read about how the Founding Fathers were influenced by the Enlightenment, I know, thanks to having read works from the Enlightenment, what that really means.
Creativity
This is interesting. I’m especially pleased with the inclusion of Charles Williams, whose works deserve far more attention than they get these days. The inclusion of comics as a medium worth studying also makes me very happy.
SVG Test
This is just to see if I can link to an SVG file and have it appear on WordPress. Let’s find out:
…
No.
Ah, well.
