Jorge Luis Borges
Dear Fred,
Thanks for your email.
At the University of Toronto,
I had good fortune to speak with Jorge Luis Borges.
Borges was a cultured fellow
who grew up in an English-speaking home "pervaded by English and
England." He started reading Shakespeare, in English, at age 12
and considered him vastly over-rated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Borges did acknowledge the
bard as author of many literary nuggets, but often found them overshadowed by
long, droning passages.
Consider the following review
of "Borges" by Adolfo Bioy Casares: "This extraordinary
volume sheds light on Borges’ omnivorous intellect while exposing his unbridled
snobbery. He was a man of forceful, though inconsistent, opinions: Shakespeare
is the most overrated writer, Joyce’s books are idiotic but keep literary critics
employed, anyone who admires Baudelaire is an imbecile."
- Angel Gurria-Quintana, Financial
Times - http://www.complete-
I like your "left-wing
rant."
How much of it do you
believe?
And how much issues from your
inner advocatus diaboli?
Pax on
both houses,
Alan
PS Again, I encourage you to
read "Under the Banner of
Heaven." There are
some seemingly impertinent chapters, but overall the book is thrilling and
jaw-dropping. It is better to skip the "genealogically confounding"
sections (mostly occurring from the middle of the volume to the three quarters'
mark) than to miss the beginning and the end. Krakauer, who grew up in Oregon
surrounded by Mormons (whom he very much admired) grapples admirably with
"faith," "doubt,"
"belief-systems-in-conflict-with-science," the jurisprudential view
of insanity and belief, and finally, the impulse to believe one's childhood
conditioning even when such beliefs become increasingly "untenable."
Although it is important to read deep enough into the book to get a saturated
sense of Mormon history, the final chapter, "Canaan Mountain" is so
good that you "should" read it even if it means by-passing the rest
of the book. When Ron Howard converts "Banner of Heaven" into a
movie, America will finally have the discussion of Mormonism that Romney
diligently avoided and which Obama (an essentially courteous man) did not wish
to force "from the closet." (Here is my most recent Mormon
post, "Mormon "Prophet" Joseph
Smith's Last Social Act Was To Fire Blindly Into A Crowd"
PPS Mormonism's polygamous
past -- and present -- confer genealogical confusion. Despite LDS declarations
eschewing polygamy, it will eventually prove necessary to revert to
"Prophet" Joseph Smith's polygamous teaching, or, to continue as a
religion whose formal power structure deleted Smith's core teaching.
Essentially, Mormonism's 1890 anti-polygamy edict, issued by Mormon president
Wilford Woodruff, countermanded God's "everlasting" revelation to
"Prophet" Smith. Woodruff's retraction of God's Truth is like St.
Paul retracting "Love your enemies, do good to those who persecute
you" because God had bestowed personal revelation of a Higher Truth. (See
"Mormonism and Polygamy" at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism_and_polygamy)
On Mon, Feb 4, 2013 at 11:11 AM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:
The remains of Richard III -- the only news that cheered me this morning.
I'm trying to do a left-wing rant.
Of course, he was one of those patriarchal p____ --- Shakespeare never wrote a play about a f______ queen unless it was Cleopatra and he made her second fiddle to Caesar when she should have kicked his male p__-a__ all over Rome and seized power in the name of all lower people. Seriously, Shakespeare will need to be re-written, all the heroes are men -- Hamlet, Macbeth, all those kings, Lear -- destroyed by his own daughters -- the witches in Macbeth -- women portrayed as inferior and evil...... Shakespeare can't be re-interpreted -- his vile chauvinist p__-p____ will need to be banished.
--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214
My blog is Fred Owens
send mail to:
Fred Owens
35 West Main St Suite B #391
Ventura CA 93001
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