Terry Jones and Barbarians
I’m watching the Atilla episode on Google video, which is quie interesting having just read Man’s bio of the man. There are a few differences…. One thing I am really curious about, is whether Jones ever actually questions the word ‘barbarian’ itself, given it’s a farily perjorative word.
I do like Jones, but I think I agree with the people I’ve read on lots of blogs, saying it’s a bit generalised and slams the Romans more than they deserve to make the ‘barbarians’ the heroes. A bit Mike Moore-ish, actually, now I think about it….
Entertaining turns of phrase
From the BBC Radio 4 episode on Charlemagne: he had a ‘legitimacy deficit’ (and therefore used Christianity to prop his rule up).
Origins and Forms of Greek Tragedy
I finished Origins and Form of Early Greek Tragedy on the weekend. It was fun – I really enjoyed it. He’s quite convincing, about tragedy not actually starting from satyr plays and Dionysus, but rather developing through Solon’s ideas (that bit I’m not entirely convinced about, not least because I don’t actually know enough about the time or the man), and Athens’ experiences in the Persian Wars, etc. What I really need to know now is why people today don’t take any notice, apparently, of what the dude said – this was published in the 1960s, and yet to this day it’s said that tragedy started from the “goat-songs” of Dionysus. So did someone write a rebuttal? Or has it just been ignored? Very curious… I might have to ask some people.
Attila the Hun
I’ve been fascinated by Attila for a while, at least partly because there seems to be so little actually known about him and he – along with his Huns – have become synonymous with evil bad rampaging Vandals (with whom they were contemporaneous – lovely). So when I saw a bio of him written by John Man, who I just love after reading Alpha Beta and The Gutenberg Revolution, I was very impressed. And I am still impressed after reading it. He does a lot to make his work accessible, and bring the subject to life: I wonder how many other would-be biographers of Attila would go to Hungary and find the man who has, single-handedly, basically reinvented the art of horse-mounted archery? And from he description, this is quite an amazing feat.
So anyway, finally I have an understanding of where Attila actually fits into the whole world history picture. I also really appreciated Man spending a chapter on later representations of Attilla and the Huns, since I never understood why the Germans suddenly became Huns in WWI. Plus, to read about the near-veneration of Attila frm modern Hungarians is also eye-opening; that old chestnut about one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter…
Sucks be to Post-modernism
How I enjoy being me: not being at BDO, I have put on the Wolfmother concert I taped off Rage ages ago (bad me). I am also reading Charles Freeman’s The Greek Achievement.
This is not the reason I can say nasty things to postmodernists, although it is a bit out there.
No, the reason I am feeling smug towards PMs at the moment is what I just read in the aforementioned book. There was a philosopher who lived around 490-420BC, name of Protagoras. His most famous words, apparently, are “man is the measure of all things.” He claimed that if one person said a drink was bitter, then it is true to say that it is bitter; and if another person said the same drink was sweet, it was true to say it was indeed sweet. Ha ha! PMs are not so postmodern after all! They are indeed rehashing ancient ideas! And to add a cherry to this glorious statement, Freeman continues with: “This was easily challenged by Democritus, and after him, Plato. If all beliefs are true, so too is the belief that no beliefs are true and there is an insoluble contradition.” Mahahahaha.
*sigh* Back to school tomorrow.
Cornelia Funke and Anna Lanyon
I know it’s a bit sad, but for only the second time in my life I sent a fan email to an author – to Cornelia Funke. I got areply today, from her sister, who apparently has taken on the task of answering the fan mail Cornelia receives. (Although of course, she still reads all of it, and it’s very precious to her….) Anyway, she let me in on the tentative title of the third Ink book: Inkdeath. Oh dear.
I think I quite like being a fan. I think I’ve written before about the issues of being a fan, me being such a snob and all… but the look on Anna Lanyon’s face, after I heard her speaking about her books Malinche and The New World of Martin Cortes, and then I asked her for her autograph, was incredibly worthwhile. I think, if I were an author, I would get a kick out of anyone saying they liked my work. Surely you don’t get sick of that too quickly?
Faking Literature
It’s been ages since I wrote about any of the books I’ve read, so I’m going back just a little way in time to comment on some of them.
This book, Faking Literature, I picked up at Readings from the cheapo academic table, partly because hoaxes/fakes fascinate me, but also because the author, Ken Ruthven, was the lecturer of a couple of subjects I did at uni. He was pretty hard to handle in first year – I really didn’t get it – but in second year I thought he was fantastic. I guess I’d grown up enough to understand him and his humour, not to mention lit crit.
This book is, of course, all about fakes and hoaxes in the literary world, and I learnt an awful lot about Great Scams in Literature. It was good to see that he included those few great Aussie ones, too – Helen “Demidenko” and Ern Malley; as well as Milli Vanilli, which was pretty funny. But given that he included that last, I was a bit surprised that he did not include Elizabeth Durack, a white female artist, and her great scam posing as Eddie Burrup, an Aboriginal male artist. The only reason I know about it, of course, is that it’s one of the family’s great stories. Anyway.
Aside from the historical pointof view, the book is also about the reactions of the ‘legit’ literary community to the deception – particularly when they have at first embraced the hoax/fake as itself being legit. His contention, I think, is that the legit vilifies the so-called illegit to stop people from questioning the legitimacy of the legit itself, and also becuase it is only legit by defining itself against the illegit. I love it… dichotomies only exist by defining what each side isn’t, which can only be done with reference to their opposite.
It was a great book. Quite easy to read, which was refreshing, and with some quite witty parts as well. And I’m sure Ken would be gratified to hear that I think so.
Caligula
Just about to finish a bio of Caligula, which I have quite enjoyed – which is a good thing, since I recently bought a book on Agrippina (the Younger) by the same author. I had to laugh, though; I don’t know whether he did it deliberately, but I thought he was aiming for a dispassionate account, or as dispassionate as an historian is capable of being, but there’s a great line about Caligula being condemned by historians through the ages largely because he deserves it! Ah, Objectivity; how we worship Thee. As well, i’m not entirely convinced by his treatment of the sources, who are basically Suetonius and Dio, with a bit of Philo and Seneca thrown in. He says they’re unreliable, and totally dismisses some stories – and I think I agree with his rationale in those cases – but I wasn’t always able to follow his logic for the stories that he accepted as likely to be basically true, or containing some useful historical nugget.
Nonetheless, it was an interesting read. And the above issues are always interesting for an historian, and perhaps especially a history teacher, to be reminded of.
Lotsa books
I’ve read a couple of books over the last week or so. It’s been fun to be on holidays.
Something Rotten – by Mr Fforde, whom I saw last Thursday – more about that later.
Grim Tuesday – by Garth Nix, which again was awfully entertaining. I can’t wait to read Wednesday.
Artemis Fowl – by Eoin Cowler. Also very entertaining, looking forward to reading the rest of them. I like the idea of the main character being a 12yo criminal matermind with some family issues.
The Gutenberg Revolution – by John Man, just for something slightly different.
Right not I’m reading two books. This is because the one I was already reading, the Empyrion omnibus by Stephen Lawhead (yes, like a cross between Hyperion and Endymion, but very very different and hopefully not so disappointing as that’s conclusion was… I’m still not over that), was too enormous to carry to the HTAA conference I went to today (and tomorrow, and Thursday). So I took along Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman, which I’ve been meaning to read for ages – it’s all about what it’s like in “Girl World”: aimed at mothers and daughters, but I think it will be really useful to read as a teacher too. So far it’s been pretty good; not entirely sure if/whether I’ll be able to put it into practice.
Walkerville book sale
Well, yes… the most expensive book I bought was $2… I bought 10 books. For $11. I felt a bit guilty, but hey; good books, and cheap! There were stacks of people there… if I’d had time I think I probably could have picked up even more (I would have had to grab a bag in order to do so, though). As it was, I am glad they didn’t weigh my bag at the airport since I was just a little over the limit.
So what did I get? Good question, so glad you asked:
A Short History of the World, by none other than HG Wells
The Last Plantagenet, by Tyler White (that’s about Richard III, in case you’re wondering)
The Borgias, by Michael Mallett (which I started reading at the airport, and got a fair bit read because the plane was late in leaving; more readable than I had expected)
Journey among Warriors, by Eve Curie (yes, the daughter; no idea what this is going to be like)
The Idea of History, by Collingwood (hurrah! for $1, no less!)
Firebird, by Muchael Asher (some conspiracy novel)
Empyrion Omnibus, by Stephen Lawhead (confused me no end when I saw the title and it not by Simmonds; looks good)
The Chosen, by Ricardo Pinto (some fantasty schlock, I expect; interesting to try)
and Running with the Demon, by Terry Brooks (I’m feeling a bit guilty about not having read the entirety of the Shannara series).
Some Edith Pargeter (aka Ellis Peters) novel, which I actually left in Adelaide so as to save room in the bag
So that’s the lot. Very exciting. I also came home with one of Mum’s books, which she has donated to the cause (of teaching, that is): Queen Bees and Wannabes, by Rosaling Wiseman, which she says is excellent and well worth reading as a teacher. So that should be good.
Randomly Yours, Alex 