Avoosl Wuthoqquan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I regard it as an honour to be mistaken for Dale
> Nelson. :)


Hah! I noticed it just now!

All of it applies.

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Avoosl Wuthoqquan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Harold Bloom, a man whose thinking I've had a
> love/hate relationship with for decades, once said
> in an interview:

You can do better than read this guy, who was dinged right at the outset of his career. He wrote a book on Blake that received a review from C. S. Lewis, which you can find in a collection called Image and Imagination.

Myself, I figure that, in general, one does well to avoid criticism written since about 1980 -- not all criticism, but one should be wary. Fashionable ideas from France etc. adversely affected much of what was written by professors writing in English. See Vickers's Appropriating Shakespeare, McAlindon's Shakespeare Without Theory, etc. on this.

On the positive side, anyone who likes fantastic fiction and wants to read some criticism should get a copy of C. S. Lewis's An Experiment in Criticism. Have we all read Arthur Machen's Hieroglyphics?

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, attention is worth far more than money. We
> should be very careful with what we fill our
> brains with. The Internet is a drug (at least as
> addictive as heroin). I am thankful for all the
> books, and other stuff, I have found through the
> Internet, but a lot of time is also wasted in
> sifting through all dross, and in repetition!
>
> And there is a social replacement the Internet
> caters to. Reading books, meeting the characters
> in the books, is basically a compensation for the
> need of having social meetings. But today the
> Internet fill that social compensation, so we read
> less books while spending more time instead in
> discussing books. It may be that the social need
> trumps over the intellectual/artistic needs.

Besides, one's media-driver attention is likely to be to a range of things selected by people of suspect motives. Just saw this:

[www.theepochtimes.com]

Marxists do love their dachas.

Hilarious, but also sad.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 17 Apr 21 | 01:18PM by Dale Nelson.

Dale Nelson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Knygatin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yes, attention is worth far more than money. We
> > should be very careful with what we fill our
> > brains with. The Internet is a drug (at least
> as
> > addictive as heroin). I am thankful for all the
> > books, and other stuff, I have found through
> the
> > Internet, but a lot of time is also wasted in
> > sifting through all dross, and in repetition!
> >
> > And there is a social replacement the Internet
> > caters to. Reading books, meeting the
> characters
> > in the books, is basically a compensation for
> the
> > need of having social meetings. But today the
> > Internet fill that social compensation, so we
> read
> > less books while spending more time instead in
> > discussing books. It may be that the social
> need
> > trumps over the intellectual/artistic needs.
>
> Besides, one's media-driver attention is likely to
> be to a range of things selected by people of
> suspect motives. Just saw this:
>
> [www.theepochtimes.com]
> ebook-and-instagram-block-users-from-sharing-ny-po
> st-report-on-blm-co-founders-multi-million-dollar-
> property-purchases_3778495.html?utm_source=morning
> briefnoe&utm_medium=email2&utm_campaign=mb-2021-04
> -17&mktids=ed5be342b34b9cee1f28142354088cfc&est=Zo
> 2NmFKwCBDlkkGrI44PE0t9uQw4dpjIuUhtViQJm6YBr6mG5etC
> izHaOXF1XKz0
>
> Marxists do love their dachas.
>
> Hilarious, but also sad.

Just another shuck-and-jive scam--like gurus, like tel-evangelists.

To quote that great social observer, David Byrne:

"Same as it ever was..."

I hope it's not true...

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 17 Apr 21 | 01:27PM by Sawfish.

Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Knygatin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Avoosl Wuthoqquan Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > I miss Jojo Lapin X.
> >
> >
> > Well, many left ED at about the same time, when
> > the more famous users either died away or
> > dismissed us. I ascribe this sheepish following
> > partly to a need of being star-struck.
>
>
> I see where I registered in 2004. I was not a
> regular until maybe 3 or so years ago.
>
> What sorts of things happened here on ED? I feel
> certain that there's an oral tradition surrounding
> the evolution of the group. There's always
> something like that on most forums. It's like the
> Aeneid of misfits, often.
>
> I mean, this is a fairly sedate group, much to my
> liking. In fact, I often worry that I'm a kind of
> squeaky wheel here.
>
> Let's send this back over to the open topics
> thread. Me, I don't care if we stay here, but
> others have made cogent and reasonable arguments
> why we should stick fairly close to topic, and in
> principal I agree with them.

I remember you clearly from that time, Sawfish, even though it was long ago. You and I got along quite well. I had a different user name then (Ludde). You were equally enthusiastic for long discussions about CAS back then, as you are now, but few others would meet up with you on that, which made you a bit frustrated. But you left after a short while, because of inflamed quarrels between others on the forum, saying you had had quite enough of such back in college. If you want to look back upon what you wrote then, you can find it through the Search function at top.

Back then Dr. Farmer (calonlan), English professor and long-time admirer of CAS and Tolkien, wrote long and interesting comments about Smith's life. He had known Smith personally.
Writer W. H. Pugmire used to comment frequently, as well as a few famous names within publishing and editing. JDWorth and several others held long intellectual discussions.

After Dr. Farmer died, several posters dropped away. And when Pugmire died, the remaining rest finally disappeared too. Some have also complained over the occasional aggressive tone on the forum, saying they left because of that. (I was always impervious to these conflicts - then again, I was never really attacked by anyone - seeing that it is something that occasionally happens everywhere where people meet and discuss.)

I am actually a little surprised that not more famous writers have commented here. I am sure there must be several who have some interesting perspective on C. A. Smith, as being an inspirational source on their own writing, that they could share here.

K, I did what you suggested: I looked at some of the old posts...

Wow. I was/am pretty combative. One always remembers one's self in very sanguine terms...

Oh, well!...

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dale Nelson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Avoosl Wuthoqquan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > Harold Bloom, a man whose thinking I've had a
> > love/hate relationship with for decades, once
> > said in an interview:
>
> You can do better than read this guy, who was
> dinged right at the outset of his career.

I agree that one can do better, but given his outsize influence and reputation, I still find it worthwhile to dip my toe into his vatic oeuvre every now and then.

> Myself, I figure that, in general, one does well
> to avoid criticism written since about 1980 -- not
> all criticism, but one should be wary.
> Fashionable ideas from France etc. adversely
> affected much of what was written by professors
> writing in English.

I could not agree with you more, having attended university when 'theory' (theory about what? about nothing) was in its heyday. But I feel that I must defend Bloom's honour here: he was in a class of lunacy entirely his own and always battled the postmodernists, whom he dubbed 'the school of resentment'. One only has to take a glance at today's cultural climate, with its absurd and reprehensible 'cancel culture', to see how right he was there.

Also, his son was in an episode of Battlestar Galactica once. :)

Avoosl Wuthoqquan Wrote:
------------------------
> I could not agree with you more, having attended
> university when 'theory' (theory about what? about
> nothing) was in its heyday. But I feel that I must
> defend Bloom's honour here: he was in a class of
> lunacy entirely his own and always battled the
> postmodernists, whom he dubbed 'the school of
> resentment'. One only has to take a glance at
> today's cultural climate, with its absurd and
> reprehensible 'cancel culture', to see how right
> he was there.
>
> Also, his son was in an episode of Battlestar
> Galactica once. :)

Thanks -- I'm grateful for the correction about Bloom.

I have started the Hogarth translate of Gogol's Dead Souls.

I understand that this may not be the optimum English translation, but I find it quite readable, with understated humor stemming from the observation of human nature.

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sawfish, I hope you'll enjoy it as I've enjoyed it. I'll forbear to mention favorite passages just yet.

Dale, just a little ways in, and it is beginning to feel like the plot of The Music Man.

Perhaps there'll be trouble in River City...

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After you read Dead Souls, Sawfish, you might want to look up Gogol's other comic masterpiece, The Inspector General, a play.

(I should admit that I haven't read all that Gogol wrote. Perhaps "The Nose" is a comic masterpiece too. I am not sure I've read that one. "The Overcoat" didn't strike me as all that funny.)

May I recommend ‘Diary of a Madman’? I have fond memories of seeing a dramatic production of it years ago, in which the actor performed the entire story as a monologue, gradually going increasingly bananas. It was surprisingly poignant.

Gogol’s story ‘Viy’ was turned into a delightfully colourful and imaginative Russian film released in 1967. It was available on YouTube with English dubbing for a while, but the implacable Parcae of copyright have elected to deprive us of that privilege. A Russian version is still up at [www.youtube.com]. The truly weird segments have little to no dialogue, so it may be worth fast-forwarding to those even if you don’t speak Russian. They’re the parts set in the church, starting at around 37:32, 48:02 and 1:03:12, respectively.

Yes -- the seminarian hasn't lost his wits in the haunted house, so at last the cry goes out -- "SEND FOR VIY!" (That oughta do it...)

The Residents's horror version of the famous song "We Are The World". Don't miss the look upon the faces of the devastated audience. [www.youtube.com]