“The influence of Frazer on our generation cannot yet be accurately estimated, but it is comparable to that of Renan, and perhaps more enduring than that of Sigmund Freud.”That was T.S. Eliot talking about James Frazer’s The Golden Bough.I think it is safe to say that Eliot was wrong; Freud was more enduring. (On the other hand, as for Renan…ever heard of him?) But that doesn’t mean that The Golden Bough was an insignificant achievement. Eliot mentions it as one of the influences that gave … [Read more...] about Should We Bow to The Golden Bough?
Great Books
Live Like Charles Primrose
One of my (many) fascinations is books which were once upon a time extremely popular but are rarely mentioned, let alone read, in the modern age.The puzzle is in the pair of questions:1. Why was the book so popular?2. Why has nobody heard of it today? Consider, for example, a novel from 1766 which (according to the ever helpful Wikipedia) is mentioned in all of the following works:Alcott, Little WomenAusten, EmmaBronte, The ProfessorBronte, VilletteDickens, A Tale of Two CitiesDickens, … [Read more...] about Live Like Charles Primrose
Dignity, the Amoral Virtue
The Remains of the Day (by Kazuo Ishiguro) is an absolutely brilliant bit of writing. It is a first person narration by a butler in one of the great English country houses. Stevens, the butler, is, to put it mildly, a hyperprecise narrator. Hyperprecise.You want an example? I flipped open the book at random. Stevens is on a road trip and ran out of gas. He walks up the road a short bit to a gate which opens onto a field and sees a small village about a mile away. He explains why he decided to … [Read more...] about Dignity, the Amoral Virtue
Thoreau, New Mexico: Origin of a Name
While barreling down Highway 40 in New Mexico (speed limit 75!), there is an off ramp into the town of Thoreau. There aren’t a whole lot of other distractions on this stretch of road, so I cannot be the first person to wonder, “Why would there be a small town in New Mexico named after Henry David Thoreau?”The next stop was obviously Google. (Fear not, I was traveling with the Long Suffering Wife of Your Humble Narrator. Don’t Google and Drive, kids.) [Side note: this is the same highway … [Read more...] about Thoreau, New Mexico: Origin of a Name
Pseudo-Intellectuals and Their Opponents
Yet Trissotin, I must admit,So irks me that there’s no controlling it.I can’t to gain his advocacy stoopTo praise the works of such a nincompoop.It was those works which introduced me to him;Before I ever saw the man, I knew him;From the vile way he wrote, I saw with easeWhat, in the flesh, must be his qualities:The absolute presumption, the completeAnd dauntless nature of his self-conceit,The calm assurance of his superior worthWhich renders him the smuggest man on earth,So that he stands in … [Read more...] about Pseudo-Intellectuals and Their Opponents
Why We Don’t Trust the Rich
Over the course of this series of essays, we have been exploring why it is that people object to an unequal distribution of wealth. We saw in the first essay, that the objection is not limited to concern for people living in poverty. In the next two essays, we saw that while there are related complaints about the sources of great wealth, such complaints are not well-grounded. So, what is it? Is it that wealthy people are inherently more wicked? Once again, we turn to literature to guide us. … [Read more...] about Why We Don’t Trust the Rich