Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature by Erich Auerbach tranlated by Willar R. Rask

Here is Jean Rondeau (can that really be his last name?) playing Bach's Chaconne.  Not everyone likes the harpsichord and it does not have the variety in dynamics and color the piano has, which is why it was eclipsed pretty quick after the invention of said piano.  But there is definitely a timbre that is all the harpsichord's own and I think Rondeau shows great powers of expression.

The other night I was going for a walk, deep in my own thoughts.  Then I looked up and turned my head to the left.  Here is what I saw:

Glad I had my phone.  I started snapping.

Every now and then it pays to get out of your head and look at the world around you.

Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature - New and Expanded Edition by Erich Auerbach

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I will not to attempt to review a book of this scope. I will briefly say that Auerbach's intention was to show how literature through the ages interpret reality. He starts with Ancient Greek saga and compares it with Bible epics and shows the different intentions in each.

He moves on to the lore of the middle ages and the impact Christianity had on that literature. He also analyzes the enlightenment and gives one of the most piercing and scathing observations about Voltaire's work. I must say I enjoyed Auerbach reinforcing what I had always thought about Voltaire, namely that the author creates fantasy worlds to prove his enlightenment points. Voltaire loved stretching reality out of proportion and depicting people as buffoons as if this really showed how things were and why his personal philosophy held water.

Another observation he makes about several authors from Voltaire's time to the 20th century is how the Bourgeoisie become the universal scapegoats as to what is wrong with the world. And who is condemning and holding them in contempt? Author and artists from the elite wealthy class who consider it immoral that the middle class should work hard for the material comforts that they, the elite were born into.

His final essay is about Virginia Woolf and really all I learned is that I do not find her a particularly interesting writer. He quotes great swathes of her "To The Lighthouse" which seems bogged down in trivial minutia.

This is a valuable read, but also a weighty one and I am sure someone more intelligent than me could do better justice in reviewing it.



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The Surprising Imagination of C.S. Lewis, The Arabian Nights, Steampunk

Book-buying fast update:  I have so far read thirty-one books and have sixty-nine to go before I can buy another book. As I have said before, I read several books concurrently.  The following reviews are on three books I finished this week.

 
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Handlebar Publishing in exchange for my honest opinion.  

Authors Jerry Root and Mark Neal wrote a book that provides an analysis of C.S. Lewis' works and how the imagination is a crucial element in his writing, particularly his fantasy novels.

On the one hand, stating that the imagination is a crucial element of fantasy is unnecessary, but Root and Neal break down how the imagination functions, how fantasy captures that imagination and, in Lewis' work, how the imagination is ultimately a yearning and journey toward God.

I felt at times that the authors devoted too much time retelling Lewis' stories and then explaining to us what Lewis was saying in those stories.  But they also delved into different categories of imagination and how these different types of imagination are sparked in his various works.  Root and Neals' analysis of the human imagination is the most valuable aspect of their book.

Overall the book is a good introduction to Lewis' writings and would be an enjoyable addition to the library of any fan of Lewis.

This edition of Scherezade's thousand and one tales (it only includes twenty-one of the more well-known stories) is Sir Richard Burton's famous translation which is quite flowery and formal in its language, which I found at times burdensome to trudge through. 

While many of us (myself included) consider The Arabian Nights as fun adventure tales for the children, the content of this edition is quite adult. It omits none of the sex, racism-especially against African races- or pejorative cultural attitudes towards women that are lacking in kid-friendly adaptations.   

They still contain adventure, Middle Eastern folklore with jinn, magic carpets, rings, wily men and women who meet Allah's judgement, as well as heroes and heroines who, after much hardship and trial win in the end.

The illustrations are what set this particular book apart from other editions.  My Barnes and Noble edition is laced with rich, colorful pictures painted by Czech artists Renata Fucikova and Jindra Capek.  These two artists took meticulous care to render authentic looking Persian paintings that are beautiful and make this book a prize for any personal library. 

 

And speaking of Barnes and Noble, I was browsing through a local branch when I came across the above book.  "What's Steampunk?" I asked my then fiance, Josh.  He explained the whole movement to me from it's origins in the 19th century to the fantasy style costumery worn by some young (and old) people today.
 

For those of you wondering (that would be people my age or older) Steampunk is Victorian science fiction.  With the arrival of the steam engine, 19th century writers' imagination went off in a direction that had their stories soaring to the moon, into the future, and into all kinds of weird and wonderful possibilities in science labs.  But these stories are pre-World Wars.  The women wear petticoats and the men dress for dinner, wear top hats, are gallant and chivalrous. They also happen to be (sometimes mad) scientists.

Strictly speaking, H.G. Wells, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, of course Jules Verne, and even Arthur Conan Doyle could be said to be contributors of Steampunk.
 
This book is a collection of  now mostly obscure writers who wrote for late 19th and early 20th century science fiction, fantasy and penny dreadful magazines.  While the writing is not as brilliant as the better known contemporaries listed in the previous paragraph, they are still interesting and I'm sure provoked  their audience's interest with their animal cyborgs, inventions gone awry and other dystopian possibilities that came with the industrial age and the steam engine.

Next week is Halloween and I am reading some new scary stories by the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle (no-nothing to do with Sherlock) and even a Vampire grammar book.  I hope to have a couple of reviews ready in time for the Holiday.