On Reading Philip Rieff or How Tough Sociology Can Help Us Understand Us

     It has long been a conviction of mine that too many people are too much shaped by their everyday world and they do not realize how much. Human cultures have a way of so becoming the atmosphere we take into our lungs that we lose sight of the truth that sometimes the air is poison. For some it is a slow death by breathing.
     Os Guinness, Peter Berger, Max Weber, and Jacques Ellul have assisted me in checking the toxicity levels, and now I need to add another--Philip Rieff. Truthfully, he is the most challenging in both the way he writes and at times what he says. Sometimes what he says is difficult to mentally grasp and other times I fear I understand him all too clearly. 
     Rieff is best known for his superlative scholarship on the life, writings, and influence (helpful and destructive) of Sigmund Freud. Rieff is one of those rare contemporary authors who is conversant with ideas and authors well beyond the bounds of his area of expertise. Reading Rieff is a full education in that one encounters Rieff's reflections and connections with cultural history, literature, the arts, philosophy, and the social sciences. In the Sacred Order/Social Order series, printed by the University of Virginia Press the reader meets a more aphoristic Rieff. I was reminded of certain writings by Friedrich Nietzsche in style much more than content. 

     Among the many keen insights from Rieff, his assertion that we have moved through three successive cultures is central. The present culture war, which is the third culture is characterized by a radical skepticism and disdain for authority beyond the diminished autonomous person. This culture (not really a culture) contends vigorously against the second culture's sense of identity grounded in transcendence.  

     I remember once reading that Max Weber was asked why he thought about social reality with such depth and intensity considering it often lead him to a state of depression.  Weber responded, "I want to see how much I can stand." Reading Rieff is a bit like this, especially if Rieff is correct in his diagnosis of our social and cultural ills. On the other hand, knowing such problems may assist us in overcoming.

NEXT BLOG: Cancel My Appoint With Freud, Reschedule With Epictetus

Why Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles Is a Great Book

     On numerous occasions, Mortimer Adler (the polymath behind The Great Books of the Western World series) wrote about the criteria that was used to determine which books of all the books written in the West would be placed within The Great Books of the Western World collection.  Contrary to confusion and many misstatements; I've read over the years, Adler says it was essentially three criteria and they are as follows:
1) Contemporary significance - Even though historically valuable, these works address “issues, problems, or facets of human life that are of major concern to us today as well as at the time in which they were written.” While the work is within the genre of science fiction and fantasy, it really explores humane themes much as traditional fiction. In other words, change the setting from Mars to Montana and it still works as a literary masterpiece.
2) Rereadability - These are books “intended for the general reader that are worth reading carefully many times or studying over and over again...indefinitely rereadable for pleasure and profit.”
As I have confessed before in blogs and lectures, I re-read a number of Bradbury's works at specific times of the year as they seem fitting to the season. While The Martian Chronicles is not one part of a seasonal rotation, I have enjoyed this work more than once. Like his other "novels," The Martian Chronicles is rich enough in content and form (think Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath) and has enough meaningful ambiguity to sustain numerous readings and a enriching conversation with another who has read the work. For fans of this work, there is near universal agreement that the ending is that wonderful Bradburian twist that is a hallmark of his writing.
3) Extensive relevance and something of significance to say about a large number of the 102 great ideas of the thinking and writing done by the authors chosen.
Of the 102 Great Ideas Adler explored, The Martian Chronicles touches upon or explores in a meaningful manner the following: Angel, Animal, Astronomy and Cosmology, Beauty, Being, Cause, Chance, Change, Citizen, Courage, Custom and Convention, Democracy, Desire, Duty, Education, Emotion, Eternity, Evolution, Experience, Family, Fate, God, Good and Evil, Government, Habit, Happiness, History, Honor, Idea, Immortality, Infinity, Judgment, Justice, Knowledge, Labor, Language, Law, Liberty, Life and Death, Love, Man, Matter, Memory and Imagination, Metaphysics, Mind, Nature, Necessity and Contingency, One and Many, Opinion, Opposition, Philosophy, Physics, Pleasure and Pain, Poetry, Progress, Prudence, Punishment, Quality, Reasoning, Relation, Religion, Revolution, Rhetoric, Same and Other, Science, Sense, Sign and Symbol, Sin, Slavery, Soul, Space, Temperance, Theology, Time, Truth, Tyranny and Despotism, Universal and Particular, Virtue and Vice, War and Peace, Will, Wisdom, and World.
Additionally, Adler said that the list of Great Books needed to be regularly reevaluated. With this in mind, I hope that I have made the case for including this novel by Ray Bradbury and including it in the open and extended list Adler proposed.
As with other Bradbury writings, there is often an earlier life or version before the published date. While The Martian Chronicles was published in 1950 (63 years ago and still in print), many of the stories were written and published in various sources in the 1940s. Some scholars contend that The Martian Chronicles can, and actually should, be read in thematic relation with Bradbury's Illinois trilogy Something Wicked This Way Comes, Dandelion Wine, and Farewell Summer.  
     The NBC mini-series adaptation in 1979 was sadly flat despite some solid performances and a few great moments. The graphic novel published in 2011, and wonderfully illustrated by Dennis Calero, is really quite good. Additionally, there are plans underway (we know how this often goes) to remake The Martian Chronicles into a major film.
     Whether read as a classic sci-fi tale or a moralistic glimpse into the human condition, this is a novel that should be clustered with the greatest of science fiction and fantasy literature. It is substantially richer in form than most of what passes for sci-fi and fantasy literature. In addition to being a masterfully crafted exploration of numerous humane themes, it is delightful, at times, but ultimately a tale about the glories and pitfalls of being human and the gift of life.

NEXT BLOG: On Reading Philip Rieff or How Tough Sociology Can Help Us Understand Us

Fit Bodies Flabby Minds: A New Year's Resolution to Get Our Minds in Shape!

     The distinguished British Sociologist declared to the American audience, "Your bodies may be in good shape but your minds are fat." He went on to describe how for decades Americans have stressed getting in better shape and losing weight while almost totally disregarding the growth of our intellect. The simple fact is that for many Americans January 1st will consist of various resolutions for the New Year of 2014 that will include eating better, getting in shape, stopping smoking, drinking less, traveling more, and saving more money.
     Go ahead and make your resolutions for a better you, but let's get that mind in shape also. Make plans for a brighter, smarter, and happier you, by strengthening that mental muscle. By reading the right books your mental abilities can improve by the day. Your brainpower can improve and your reasoning faculties can get sharper and sharper with each brain powered work out. As with any physical regime, your mental workouts do not have to be all pain. Let's find some books that refresh, delight, and encourage. Let's also read those books that challenge, push, stretch, and move you to the next level. When I was a child, I only read comic books. When we are babies we only eat baby food. As we mature we eat adult food. We should all read things we enjoy; those lighter less demanding books.  These should be thought of as our reading carbs (essential, but not exclusive). We should also read those books that are above us and beyond us--those books that cause us to grow. We can think of these as the high-protein books for the brain.
     I'm calling for a lifestyle change. A few years ago a friend asked me how I read so much and I told him that since I don't watch more than a few hours of TV a week and I spend only a few hours in front of the computer or on my tablet, I have a lot of free time to read. In addition to spending about forty-five minutes a day on my physical exercise, I try to spend double that time on my mind. There are plenty of great books to read and we all need some help and encouragement to build up those mental muscles. Reach out to a reading group or a "book coach" who can help you resolve to be the reader in 2014 that you were not in 2013. You can do it! Feel the burn! Melt off the flab! Stretch! Reach! Go, go, go!

Why Ray Bradbury Loved Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol

     On more than one occasion, the great American writer Ray Bradbury was asked about his favorite books. While the answer varied, he most frequently spoke of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. For those who know and love the writings of Ray Bradbury, it makes perfect sense this was a favorite of his. The theme of really living is vibrant in many Bradbury works. So it is no surprise that Bradbury spoke with great excitement about the scene in A Christmas Carol where the culminating visits of the ghosts moves Ebeneezer, when he realizes that he has another chance, to declare, I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!  The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.
     As good as the many movie versions may be, there is a texture in the story that is simply missed in the visual interpretations. In this interview (toward the end of his life) Ray Bradbury speaks about his love of this great Christmas story that is a call to live life. While Bradbury says that his own The Halloween Tree is an homage to A Christmas Carol, his short story The Gift is a nice Christmas seasonal tale. You can also read Bradbury's Jack In The Box for a Bradburian twist of the declaration, "I'm alive."

NEXT BLOG: Resolving to Read More in 2014

The Pleasures of Reading: A Very Fine Guide to Reading from Professor Jacobs

     Readers of all levels and types all need help at some point in the adventures of readings. Sometimes the assistance comes in the form of encouragement and sometimes in the guise of insightful instruction. The book by Dr. Alan Jacobs is a book that is both a running encouragement and is rich with instructional insights on how to be a better reader.
     Of all the motivations given, Jacobs places one above all others and that is “read at whim,” (15, 33, 41) and related to this makes the case for reading for pleasure and delight (10, 23). Additionally, Jacobs notes the real value of marking books well (61, 64) and rereading books (16, 128-129).
     There are treats throughout this book, especially for the bibliovore. A fine tip is what Jacobs calls “reading upstream” (43-50). This is akin to the ad fonts call of the Renaissance Humanists. It is a call to read what the authors read and the works that influenced them. In a few places Jacobs gives different admonitions, such as the need for “deep attention” (105) with some works and the value of “skimming well” (111) with others. Numerous insights into the nature of reading the Great Books or classics are throughout (23) and most important is that these are more demanding works that both require more patience and may assist in the cultivation of more patience. Anecdotes and illustrations from brain research (29, 103) to the indescribable “magic” of reading (34) abound in this fine little volume.
     My only minor disagreement with Jacobs is his read of Adler’s How to Read a Book (3, 43, 97-103). It struck me that more than once Jacobs even sounds like Adler, especially when he describes what reading difficult books can do for us (50). Like Adler and Kreeft, Jacobs calls us to be an active reader who respectfully questions what is being read (55, 56, 65). Jacobs is a superlative guide because it is clear that he loves reading and is passionate about assisting others with reading. This passion translates well into ongoing enabling encouragement. Alan Jacobs manifests a marvelous blend of being gracious, wise, humble, (54) and highly competent as a helper. Whether he is talking about reading on a Kindle, (63-67) discussing his favorite books, or showing his own indebtedness to Hugh of St. Victor, (90-97) Jacobs is Virgilian in his faithfulness to all of us who journey in the bookish worlds we inhabit and inhabit us.

NEXT BLOG: Why Ray Bradbury Loved A Christmas Carol.

Why Read?

Homer's Iliad: Some Translations of this Great Masterpiece

     Like many other lovers of the Great Books, I yield to the truth that Homer's epics are the magnificent fountain that gave birth to western imagination. Having tasted deeply from the fountains that brought forth later literary waters, it is always refreshing to return to the beginning.
    There are a number of fine translations of Homer's Iliad that are accessible and enjoyable. Anthony Verity's Iliad is lyrical without being poetic, and he does not even pretend to sustain the meter of the original (xxix). The mark by which all other translations have been compared is Richmond Lattimore's Iliad.  In truth, when read aloud, closely imitating the demanding dactylic hexameter and providing the "speed and rhythm analogous" of the original (67), it sings like the Muse. The noble power, force, and flow of Lattimore's translation crushes most others.  
     To be fair, most of the basic introductory material can be found in most introductions and is usually best read after one has read the work. Martin offers some helpful treatment of pace and scope of the literary world (43, 44), character speech (45), the art of the simile (47), and type scenes (49). Graziosi provides one insightful comment about the Muses (xv).  Aside from what was just noted, the respective introductions written by Barbara Grazioso and Richard Martin (who also wrote the introduction for Stanley Lombardo's translation) add little to a reader's experience of the work.      
     I will confess that I tend to read poetry out loud to get the full enjoyment of the vocal and aural connection. I will also confess that I have used, and partly appreciate, what Lombardo does in his more paraphrastic translation. One finds when teaching such grand works to the modern mind, one goes to strange measures to get students to pay attention.
     Beyond a fine translation of the Iliad, I would encourage all those who love reading accessible scholarship to have Eva Brann's Homeric Moments: Clues to Delight in Reading the Odyssey and the Iliad.  While more attention is dedicated to careful reading of the Odyssey, Brann so exemplifies what careful reading looks like that she is a superlative guide.

     Now, for the really serious reader who wants to take that major step toward reading Homer in the original, a great place to begin is Homeric Greek: A Book for Beginners by Clyde Pharr, A Lexicon of Homeric Dialectic by Richard John Cunliffe, and A Homeric Dictionary by Georg Autenrieth.

Translations mentined (and a few not) in this blog that are good:
Richmond Lattimore
Robert Fagles 
Stanley Lombardo
Stephen Mitchell

NEXT BLOG: A Wordle on Why Read?