1871-1872. New York: Book-of the Month Club, 1992. (1)
Why read it? Marriage thwarts the happiness and ideals of two people. A study of 19th-century provincial society in rural England.
A novel by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), with a double plot. The heroine, Dorothea Brooke, longs to devote herself to some great cause and, for a time, expects to find it in her marriage to the Rev. Mr. Casaubon, an aging and desiccated scholar. After their marriage, within a year and a half, Mr. Casaubon dies. But Dorothea has lived with him long enough to be disillusioned by his scholarly studies on a topic of interest to absolutely no one. Mr. Casaubon leaves her his estate, with the vengeful proviso that she will forfeit it if she marries his young cousin Will Ladislaw of whom he is jealous.
Dorothea tries to live without young Ladislaw of whom she has grown very fond and throws herself into the struggle for medical reforms advocated by the young Dr. Lydgate. Finally, however, she decides to give up her property and marry Ladislaw.
The second plot deals with the efforts and failure of Dr. Lydgate to live up to his early ideals. Handicapped by financial difficulties, brought about by his marriage to the selfish and ambitious Rosamond Vincy, and by the opposition of his medical associates, he finally cultivates a wealthy practice at the expense of his medical standards.
Marriage challenges the efforts of young idealists. Seems to suggest that marriage destroys achievement--or the marriage.
Next blog: Sample quotes.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
A Country Doctor. Sarah Orne Jewett. (2)
New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc. 1884 (1994). (2)
10-second review: Novel about a young girl who challenges the accepted 19th-century practice that every girl should be married and be a housewife. She wants to be a doctor. Takes place in rural Maine.
Sample Quotes:
“In old times when the houses were draftier they was troublesome about flickering, candles was, but land! think how comfortable we live now to what we used to…. Stoves is such a convenience; the fire’s so much handier…. Housekeepin’ don’t begin to be the trial it was once.” p. 153. “ ………. Mrs. Jake Dyer: “It always kind of scares me these black nights. I expect something to clutch at me every minute, and I feel as if some sort of creatur’ was travelin’ right behind me when I out doors in the dark.” p. 155. ………. “The horse knew as well as his master that nothing of particular importance was in hand, and however well he always caught the spirit of the occasion when there was need for hurry, he now jogged along the road, going slowly where the trees cast a pleasant shade, and paying more attention to the flies than to anything else.” p. 184.
“There was a new unsheltered grave on the slope above the river, the farm house door was shut and locked, and the light was out in the kitchen window.” p. 198. ………. “It is nature that does it [cures] after all….” p. 217. ……… “But the young practitioners must follow the text-books a while until they have had enough experience to open their eyes to observe and have learned to think for themselves.” p. 217.
“I said to myself yesterday that a figure of me in wax would do just as well…. I get up and dress myself, and make the journey downstairs, and sit here at the window had have my dinner and go through the same round day after day.” p. 231. ………. “The poor old captain waiting to be released [by death], stranded on the inhospitable shore of this world, and eager Nan, who was sorrowfully longing for the world’s war to begin.” p. 257. ………. “…it is a long hill to try to study medicine or to study something else; and if you are going to fear obstacles you have a poor chance of success.” p. 261.
“The doctor told Nan many curious things as they drove about together: certain traits of certain families, had how the Dyers were of strong constitution, and lived to a great age in spite of severe illnesses and accidents and all manner of unfavorable conditions, while the Dunnells, who looked a great deal stronger, were sensitive and deficient in vitality, in that an apparently slight attack of disease quickly proved fatal.” p. 266.
“I was amazed to find that there is a story going about town that your niece here is studying to be a doctor.” p. 325. ………. Nan: “I know I haven’t had the experience that you have, Mrs. Fraley, but I can’t help believing that nothing is better than to find one’s work early and hold fast to it, and put all one’s heart into it.” p. 326. ………. Nan: “It certainly can’t be the proper vocation of all women to bring up children, so many of them are dead failures at it; and I don’t see why all girls should be thought failures who do not marry.” ………. Nan: “Of course I know being married isn’t a trade: It is a natural condition of life, which permits a man to follow certain public careers and forbids them to a woman.” p. 329.
Nan to George Gerry: “I will always be your friend, but if I married you I might seem by and by to be your enemy.” p. 354. ………. Nan: “But something tells me all the time that I could not marry the whole of myself as most women can; there is a great share of my life which could not have its way, and could only hide itself and be sorry.” p. 355. ………. “…and suddenly she reached her hands upward in an ecstasy of life and strength and gladness: ‘O God, I thank thee for my future.’ ”
Comment: One of my favorite novels and one of my favorite novelists. Sarah Orne Jewett is a national treasure. RayS.
10-second review: Novel about a young girl who challenges the accepted 19th-century practice that every girl should be married and be a housewife. She wants to be a doctor. Takes place in rural Maine.
Sample Quotes:
“In old times when the houses were draftier they was troublesome about flickering, candles was, but land! think how comfortable we live now to what we used to…. Stoves is such a convenience; the fire’s so much handier…. Housekeepin’ don’t begin to be the trial it was once.” p. 153. “ ………. Mrs. Jake Dyer: “It always kind of scares me these black nights. I expect something to clutch at me every minute, and I feel as if some sort of creatur’ was travelin’ right behind me when I out doors in the dark.” p. 155. ………. “The horse knew as well as his master that nothing of particular importance was in hand, and however well he always caught the spirit of the occasion when there was need for hurry, he now jogged along the road, going slowly where the trees cast a pleasant shade, and paying more attention to the flies than to anything else.” p. 184.
“There was a new unsheltered grave on the slope above the river, the farm house door was shut and locked, and the light was out in the kitchen window.” p. 198. ………. “It is nature that does it [cures] after all….” p. 217. ……… “But the young practitioners must follow the text-books a while until they have had enough experience to open their eyes to observe and have learned to think for themselves.” p. 217.
“I said to myself yesterday that a figure of me in wax would do just as well…. I get up and dress myself, and make the journey downstairs, and sit here at the window had have my dinner and go through the same round day after day.” p. 231. ………. “The poor old captain waiting to be released [by death], stranded on the inhospitable shore of this world, and eager Nan, who was sorrowfully longing for the world’s war to begin.” p. 257. ………. “…it is a long hill to try to study medicine or to study something else; and if you are going to fear obstacles you have a poor chance of success.” p. 261.
“The doctor told Nan many curious things as they drove about together: certain traits of certain families, had how the Dyers were of strong constitution, and lived to a great age in spite of severe illnesses and accidents and all manner of unfavorable conditions, while the Dunnells, who looked a great deal stronger, were sensitive and deficient in vitality, in that an apparently slight attack of disease quickly proved fatal.” p. 266.
“I was amazed to find that there is a story going about town that your niece here is studying to be a doctor.” p. 325. ………. Nan: “I know I haven’t had the experience that you have, Mrs. Fraley, but I can’t help believing that nothing is better than to find one’s work early and hold fast to it, and put all one’s heart into it.” p. 326. ………. Nan: “It certainly can’t be the proper vocation of all women to bring up children, so many of them are dead failures at it; and I don’t see why all girls should be thought failures who do not marry.” ………. Nan: “Of course I know being married isn’t a trade: It is a natural condition of life, which permits a man to follow certain public careers and forbids them to a woman.” p. 329.
Nan to George Gerry: “I will always be your friend, but if I married you I might seem by and by to be your enemy.” p. 354. ………. Nan: “But something tells me all the time that I could not marry the whole of myself as most women can; there is a great share of my life which could not have its way, and could only hide itself and be sorry.” p. 355. ………. “…and suddenly she reached her hands upward in an ecstasy of life and strength and gladness: ‘O God, I thank thee for my future.’ ”
Comment: One of my favorite novels and one of my favorite novelists. Sarah Orne Jewett is a national treasure. RayS.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
A Country Doctor. Sarah Orne Jewett.
New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc. 1884 (1994). (1)
Why read it? Novel. There was a definite belief in the time of this novel that a woman could not be married and pursue a profession at the same time. Joe Crowell, Jr., in Our Town thought it was too bad his teacher was leaving in order to be married. Apparently his teacher could not be married and also be a teacher.
Nan, in A Country Doctor, was conscious of a purpose in life beyond settling for marriage. Her travels with her father, a doctor, on his rounds, gave her the ambition to be a doctor and the whole civilized world around her tried to talk her out of a career in medicine and into marriage.
The setting of this novel is rural, seacoast Maine. Sarah Orne Jewett's feelings about the people of rural Maine, her skill in writing about them and her ability to reproduce their language suggest that she is one of the great American writers. RayS.
Next blog: Sample quotes.
Why read it? Novel. There was a definite belief in the time of this novel that a woman could not be married and pursue a profession at the same time. Joe Crowell, Jr., in Our Town thought it was too bad his teacher was leaving in order to be married. Apparently his teacher could not be married and also be a teacher.
Nan, in A Country Doctor, was conscious of a purpose in life beyond settling for marriage. Her travels with her father, a doctor, on his rounds, gave her the ambition to be a doctor and the whole civilized world around her tried to talk her out of a career in medicine and into marriage.
The setting of this novel is rural, seacoast Maine. Sarah Orne Jewett's feelings about the people of rural Maine, her skill in writing about them and her ability to reproduce their language suggest that she is one of the great American writers. RayS.
Next blog: Sample quotes.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Creating Minds (2) Quotes
Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi. Howard Gardner. New York: Basic Books. A Division of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. 1993. (2)
10-second review: Studies the characteristics of creative people.
Sample quotes:
“…my approach to the study of creativity begins in focused biography—in an intensive examination of the periods in the life of a creative individual when a breakthrough was conceptualized, realized, and reacted to by knowledgeable individuals and relevant institutions.” p. 13.
“The key idea in the psychologist’s conception of creativity has been divergent thinking…. By standard measures intelligent people are thought of as convergers—people who, given some data or puzzle, can figure out the correct…response. In contrast, when given a stimulus or puzzle, creative people tend to come up with many different associations, at least some of which are idiosyncratic and possibly unique.” p. 20.
“What may distinguish creative individuals is their ways of productively using the insights, feelings, and expressions of childhood.” p. 32. ………. Let me begin, then, by offering a definition of the creative individual…a person who regularly solves problems, fashions products or defines new questions…in a way that is initially considered novel but that ultimately becomes accepted….” p. 35. ………. “For my discussion, Freud is emblematic—a stunning demonstration that one may attain the heights of creativity…through the intrapersonal examination of one’s own thoughts and feelings, and in his case, persistence even when no one else displays sympathy or understanding of what one is doing.” p. 86.
“Einstein was a man of seeming contradictions: an individual some ways young, in other ways mature beyond his years; a nonbeliever who spent much time thinking about God; a pacifist who stimulated the production of the most deadly weapon in history; a scientific radical who spent his last years seeking to refute the radical new scientific paradigm; a scientist whose own standards…were quintessentially aesthetic.” p. 130.
Comment: If you enjoyed some of these ideas about the nature of creativity, you need to read the book. RayS.
10-second review: Studies the characteristics of creative people.
Sample quotes:
“…my approach to the study of creativity begins in focused biography—in an intensive examination of the periods in the life of a creative individual when a breakthrough was conceptualized, realized, and reacted to by knowledgeable individuals and relevant institutions.” p. 13.
“The key idea in the psychologist’s conception of creativity has been divergent thinking…. By standard measures intelligent people are thought of as convergers—people who, given some data or puzzle, can figure out the correct…response. In contrast, when given a stimulus or puzzle, creative people tend to come up with many different associations, at least some of which are idiosyncratic and possibly unique.” p. 20.
“What may distinguish creative individuals is their ways of productively using the insights, feelings, and expressions of childhood.” p. 32. ………. Let me begin, then, by offering a definition of the creative individual…a person who regularly solves problems, fashions products or defines new questions…in a way that is initially considered novel but that ultimately becomes accepted….” p. 35. ………. “For my discussion, Freud is emblematic—a stunning demonstration that one may attain the heights of creativity…through the intrapersonal examination of one’s own thoughts and feelings, and in his case, persistence even when no one else displays sympathy or understanding of what one is doing.” p. 86.
“Einstein was a man of seeming contradictions: an individual some ways young, in other ways mature beyond his years; a nonbeliever who spent much time thinking about God; a pacifist who stimulated the production of the most deadly weapon in history; a scientific radical who spent his last years seeking to refute the radical new scientific paradigm; a scientist whose own standards…were quintessentially aesthetic.” p. 130.
Comment: If you enjoyed some of these ideas about the nature of creativity, you need to read the book. RayS.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Creating Minds
Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi. Howard Gardner. New York: Basic Books. A Division of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. 1993. (1)
Why read it? Studies the characteristics of creative people.
Distinguishes between creative thinking which is diverse thinking and convergent thinking that looks only for right answers (IQ).
Notes that art and creativity are not synonymous. You can have art that is lifeless and boring and creativity in many fields that are not considered art. Einstein and math, for example.
Other characteristics of the creative person: sacrificed all, especially a rounded-life. Other people don’t understand or sympathize with what one is doing. Despondency when work is not going well. Breakdowns. Question tradition.
Author wrote the book because it was a book that no one else had written and a book he wanted to read.
Next Blog: Sample Quotes.
Why read it? Studies the characteristics of creative people.
Distinguishes between creative thinking which is diverse thinking and convergent thinking that looks only for right answers (IQ).
Notes that art and creativity are not synonymous. You can have art that is lifeless and boring and creativity in many fields that are not considered art. Einstein and math, for example.
Other characteristics of the creative person: sacrificed all, especially a rounded-life. Other people don’t understand or sympathize with what one is doing. Despondency when work is not going well. Breakdowns. Question tradition.
Author wrote the book because it was a book that no one else had written and a book he wanted to read.
Next Blog: Sample Quotes.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Newman: His Life and Spirituality (2)
Louis Bouyer. New York: Meridian Books, Inc. 1960 (2)
10-second review: The biography of the man who left the Anglican Church to convert to Catholicism.
Sample Ideas:
“…recognition of God’s sovereignty over the ego.” p. 26. ………. “It is then the very constitution…of the Kingdom of Grace, that its children must all suffer. If they do not suffer here they will suffer the more hereafter, and they suffer little hereafter, in proportion as they suffer much here.” p. 339. ………. “It will take a community to lead us to God.” p. 73.
“A thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.” p. 72. ………. “True education consists in unlearning life’s poetry, and learning its prose.” p. xi. ………. “Superficial education substitutes appearance for reality: ‘To seem becomes to be.’ ”. p. xi. ………. “…it is beside the mark to enquire what useful purpose is served by culture, not because it serves none at all, but because it is its own reward. It does not form the specialist, it forms the man….” p. 310. ………. “It is the education which gives a man a clear, conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them. It teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the point, to detect what is sophistical and to discard what is irrelevant.” p. 310.
“The presence of God, the all-seeing witness and sovereign actor in every circumstance of our daily lives.” p. 13. ………. “…Newman had made it sufficiently clear…that infallibility was in the nature of a providential safeguard. It was not a substitute for intellectual activity; what it did was to keep the Church from the danger of observing in the eyes of the world the Word which had been entrusted to her.” p. 368. ………. “…opposition on the part of the Bishops of the time to the idea which he cherished so dearly, to the idea…of forming an educated and enlightened laity.” p. 315. ………. “…Newman had upheld the idea that there was no disrespect to Episcopal authority in expressing the hope that the Bishops would take counsel with the laity before committing themselves to certain measures of great practical importance to the latter.” p. 330.
“…growth is the only evidence of life.” p. 26. ………. “…time is short and eternity is long.” p. 246. ………. “I had a great dislike of paper logic. Paper logic is but the record of it.” p. 233. ………. “They [the modern world] have no philosophy. Facts are the great things, and nothing else.” p. 264.
“God’s creation, Nature, is full of mysteries. so is Revelation.” p. 72. ………. “Never, in his own view, or in other peoples’, was there less of an orator…. Almost entirely without gesture, in a voice though clear as crystal, was entirely innocent of inflection, as one rapt in inward contemplation, a mood which he quickly communicated to his hearers….” p. 176. .......... “Nevertheless, from his own particular experience, he did deduce a general truth, and that was that for those who have the light, the best way to make it shine for others is themselves to be living witnesses to the truth….” p. 255.
Play written by Newman on the dynamics of conversion. It takes place in early Roman times: “Aquellius, who has long been a Christian, but whose early ardor has much abated, falls in love with a young Pagan, Callista. He is anxious to win her over to the Christian faith, but, little by little, it is borne in upon him that it is for his own sake that he is eager to convert her. There is but one way of bringing her to God and of finding his own way back to Him, and that is to renounce all hope of the human happiness which, for him, she represented.” p. 340.
Comment: Despite his great achievement in ideas and in Christianity, Newman spent most of his life feeling that he was a failure. RayS.
10-second review: The biography of the man who left the Anglican Church to convert to Catholicism.
Sample Ideas:
“…recognition of God’s sovereignty over the ego.” p. 26. ………. “It is then the very constitution…of the Kingdom of Grace, that its children must all suffer. If they do not suffer here they will suffer the more hereafter, and they suffer little hereafter, in proportion as they suffer much here.” p. 339. ………. “It will take a community to lead us to God.” p. 73.
“A thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.” p. 72. ………. “True education consists in unlearning life’s poetry, and learning its prose.” p. xi. ………. “Superficial education substitutes appearance for reality: ‘To seem becomes to be.’ ”. p. xi. ………. “…it is beside the mark to enquire what useful purpose is served by culture, not because it serves none at all, but because it is its own reward. It does not form the specialist, it forms the man….” p. 310. ………. “It is the education which gives a man a clear, conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them. It teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the point, to detect what is sophistical and to discard what is irrelevant.” p. 310.
“The presence of God, the all-seeing witness and sovereign actor in every circumstance of our daily lives.” p. 13. ………. “…Newman had made it sufficiently clear…that infallibility was in the nature of a providential safeguard. It was not a substitute for intellectual activity; what it did was to keep the Church from the danger of observing in the eyes of the world the Word which had been entrusted to her.” p. 368. ………. “…opposition on the part of the Bishops of the time to the idea which he cherished so dearly, to the idea…of forming an educated and enlightened laity.” p. 315. ………. “…Newman had upheld the idea that there was no disrespect to Episcopal authority in expressing the hope that the Bishops would take counsel with the laity before committing themselves to certain measures of great practical importance to the latter.” p. 330.
“…growth is the only evidence of life.” p. 26. ………. “…time is short and eternity is long.” p. 246. ………. “I had a great dislike of paper logic. Paper logic is but the record of it.” p. 233. ………. “They [the modern world] have no philosophy. Facts are the great things, and nothing else.” p. 264.
“God’s creation, Nature, is full of mysteries. so is Revelation.” p. 72. ………. “Never, in his own view, or in other peoples’, was there less of an orator…. Almost entirely without gesture, in a voice though clear as crystal, was entirely innocent of inflection, as one rapt in inward contemplation, a mood which he quickly communicated to his hearers….” p. 176. .......... “Nevertheless, from his own particular experience, he did deduce a general truth, and that was that for those who have the light, the best way to make it shine for others is themselves to be living witnesses to the truth….” p. 255.
Play written by Newman on the dynamics of conversion. It takes place in early Roman times: “Aquellius, who has long been a Christian, but whose early ardor has much abated, falls in love with a young Pagan, Callista. He is anxious to win her over to the Christian faith, but, little by little, it is borne in upon him that it is for his own sake that he is eager to convert her. There is but one way of bringing her to God and of finding his own way back to Him, and that is to renounce all hope of the human happiness which, for him, she represented.” p. 340.
Comment: Despite his great achievement in ideas and in Christianity, Newman spent most of his life feeling that he was a failure. RayS.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Newman: His Life and Spirituality
Louis Bouyer. New York: Meridian Books, Inc. 1960 (1)
Why Read It? John Henry Newman converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism. At the time, his change rocked the world of religion. He interpreted Catholicism both to protestants and to Catholics. Opposed to “liberals” who believed that man can do anything without the help of God. Believed that God was everywhere and involved in our daily lives.
He believed that every person’s righteousness was merged with Christ’s. Felt that the writings of the Christian Fathers would purify the Catholic Church. Supported the laity to be consulted by the Pope. Did not see the infallibility of the Pope as any reason to stop people from thinking for themselves. Disagreed that education in college should be to train specialists. Believed that education should be to develop culture, which produced, not specialists, but men and women.
Spent a good deal of his life discouraged. Claimed he was not ambitious, but felt that he was not accorded recognition for what he had done. His hopes for acceptance of what he had done and his ideas were continually dashed. He worked for God, but his life was lived under a cloud of discouragement and bickering with colleagues and opponents, a kind of “office politics.”
Author’s judgment: The greatest theologians of all time were Augustine, Aquinas and Newman.
Next Blog: Sample Quotes.
Why Read It? John Henry Newman converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism. At the time, his change rocked the world of religion. He interpreted Catholicism both to protestants and to Catholics. Opposed to “liberals” who believed that man can do anything without the help of God. Believed that God was everywhere and involved in our daily lives.
He believed that every person’s righteousness was merged with Christ’s. Felt that the writings of the Christian Fathers would purify the Catholic Church. Supported the laity to be consulted by the Pope. Did not see the infallibility of the Pope as any reason to stop people from thinking for themselves. Disagreed that education in college should be to train specialists. Believed that education should be to develop culture, which produced, not specialists, but men and women.
Spent a good deal of his life discouraged. Claimed he was not ambitious, but felt that he was not accorded recognition for what he had done. His hopes for acceptance of what he had done and his ideas were continually dashed. He worked for God, but his life was lived under a cloud of discouragement and bickering with colleagues and opponents, a kind of “office politics.”
Author’s judgment: The greatest theologians of all time were Augustine, Aquinas and Newman.
Next Blog: Sample Quotes.
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