Meursault, revisited

Posted on by albrooke

A first-time author re-views the events of Albert Camus’ The Stranger from the perspective of the murder victim’s brother.  The brother shares the murderer’s disdain for faith:

“I detest religions and submission. . . .Who wants to run panting after a father who has never set foot on earth, has never had to know hunger or work for a living.”

Kamel Daoud, The Meursault Investigation (2015).

Ah, but a deity who walked and worked, sweated and suffered, loved and lost his life — now that would be a God to worship.

Nice review at the NYT site — http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/books/review-kamel-daoud-interrogates-camus-in-the-meursault-investigation.html?mabReward=A6&moduleDetail=recommendations-2&action=click&contentCollection=Politics&region=Footer&module=WhatsNext&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&configSection=article&isLoggedIn=false&src=recg&pgtype=article — I’m looking forward to reading this one.

Memorial Day

Posted on by albrooke

As Christians we have a certain ambivalence to war, which causes us some confusion when we think about Memorial Day.

The Bible promotes patience, gentleness, kindness, self-control and (in fact) peace; but the images of warfare are frequent.  Indeed the picture of Christ at the end of time is a picture of a warrior king:

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.  His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Revelation 19:11-16 (ESV).

We honor our veterans not because violence is praiseworthy in itself, but because in our fallen world violence is sometimes necessary and always involves great individual sacrifices.

Thank you for your service.

The Night Circus

Posted on by albrooke

This month’s book club book was The Night Circus, an interesting debut novel from Erin Morgenstern.  I thought the chronological organization of the unnumbered chapters was challenging enough that I made a graphic for the group.

The Night Circus 2

Most of the chart is taken up by the chapter list, with two additions — chapter numbers and the paperback pagination.  To the left is a character list, with the chapter at which each character makes his or her entrance.

The important part of the chart, though, is the section at the bottom which shows how the three threads of story are woven together.  The black boxes are Celia and Marco’s story, the grey boxes follow Bailey, Widget & Poppet, and the red boxes are the reader/Reveur’s story.

Hope this helps your enjoyment of the book.

The Pinto problem

Posted on by albrooke

I’m sure that some will criticize this as an oversimplifying article about America’s most famous automotive engineering case, but Gladwell does have a nice way of organizing information and opening up corridors for thinking across disciplines.  Worth reading.

Malcolm Gladwell, “The Engineer’s Lament: Two Ways of Thinking about Automotive Safety,” The New Yorker (May 4, 2015) (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/04/the-engineers-lament).

Science and magic

Posted on by albrooke

The serious magical endeavor and the serious scientific endeavour are twins: one was sickly and died, the other strong and throve.  But they were twins.  They were born of the same impulse. . . .  There is something which unites magic and applied science while separating both from the ‘wisdom’ of earlier ages.  For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue.  For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men: the solution is a technique; and both, in the practice of this technique, are ready to do things hitherto regarded as disgusting and impious—such as digging up and mutilating the dead.

C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man 48 (1947).  Lewis, of course, does not so condemn all scientists, or even all technique, but points out (as have many others since) that the parallels between magic and science are striking and perhaps more striking than their differences.  The alchemists did experiments, too.

Worship as due

Posted on by albrooke

Can you be righteous unless you be just in rendering to things their due esteem?  All things were made to be yours and you were made to prize them according to their value.

Thomas Traherne, as quoted by C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man 10 (1947).

The last sure war

Posted on by albrooke

“The times were full of certainty, ” [A.J.] Liebling later wrote.  “I have seldom been so sure I was right since.”  An AAF crewman who completed fifty bomber missions observed, “Never did I feel so much alive.  Never did the earth and all of the surroundings look so bright and sharp.”  A combat engineer mused, “What we did was something awfully damned good, something I don’t think we’ll ever have again as long as we live.”

Rick Atkinson, The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945, 640 (2013).