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
Moliere
Evil Jeeves
A plot summary:A young gentleman of dubious intellectual capacity with no discernable means of income has a valet who is extraordinarily brilliant. Said valet is capable of designing ingenious scheme to enable his master to attain seemingly impossible aims. The story is told with great wit. It is incredibly amusing despite the fact (or maybe because of the fact) that it is ridiculously repetitive. Over and over the valet’s clever plans are thwarted because the young master is convinced he knows … [Read more...] about Evil Jeeves
Tartuffe, Kanye, and Saul of Tarsus
Consider Tartuffe, Moliere’s play about a scoundrel who pretends to be a pious man in order to convince a wealthy dupe to hand over all his wealth. The play is funny, which you knew became Moliere wrote it. It raises some interesting questions about what it means to be dishonest. If I act better than I am, does that mean I am dishonest? Suppose I am a terrible person, but in public, I act like a good person. Is that bad? Hard to say Yes to that. We read this in one of my reading groups. … [Read more...] about Tartuffe, Kanye, and Saul of Tarsus