Members MsAnn Posted November 26, 2017 Members Posted November 26, 2017 Too soon? Eyes closed, volume up... AdamSmith 1
AdamSmith Posted November 26, 2017 Posted November 26, 2017 2 hours ago, MsAnn said: Too soon? Eyes closed, volume up... With thanks to @Larstrup. MsAnn 1
Members MsAnn Posted November 26, 2017 Members Posted November 26, 2017 And with that...I take my leave. God bless you for making my little stay here so educational, enlightening, and as always, enjoyable. May you and Lars make "The Organ" live on forever. AdamSmith 1
AdamSmith Posted November 26, 2017 Posted November 26, 2017 How Japan's music-playing, water-spraying TOTO toilets took over the world http://www.cnn.com/style/article/toto-on-japan/index.html
AdamSmith Posted November 26, 2017 Posted November 26, 2017 All I want for Christmas... ...the Key to Time! http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/DoctorWhoS16E6TheArmageddonFactor Yer umble narrator, in these forums, does what he can to enact the White Guardian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Guardian
AdamSmith Posted November 27, 2017 Posted November 27, 2017 270 CELecture 5 Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke AUDIO The Future Published over half a century ago, Childhood's End describes a future, some of which –such as birth control devices and DNA testing -- has come to pass. But no forecast is perfect --Clarke did not foresee the Internet, for instance, as a purveyor of information. Though the novel depicts an end to racism and sexism, that has not happened in spite of gains for minorities and women. Moreover, Clarke and many intellectuals of the time believed that reason and science would replace religion; the nation-state was on the way out; and soon there would be a world government. Instead we have seen tremendous backlashes of religious fundamentalism and nationalism. At the beginning of Childhood’s End, once again, we are back in the time of the Cold War. The United States and Russia are competing, in the year 1975, to see who will be the first to go into space. The destination is only specified as “the stars.” In reality, Sputnik, the first satellite, was launched by the USSR in 1957, while in l969 United States astronauts were the first to walk on the moon. However, in the future world created by Arthur C. Clarke, we never make it unaided off the planet. And instead of the grim scenario of “Casablanca,” we are saved from mutually assured destruction, as Karellen tells the human race later in the book, by outside intervention. Religion The launch of the space ship to the stars is forestalled by the appearance of aliens from a far superior culture. They are not the monsters of the human imagination (though they would have been perceived so had they revealed themselves right away). They are, instead, good aliens, come to save humankind. A 1951 film “The Day the Earth Stood Still” had a similar premise: a saintly alien comes to earth to stop human beings from destroying each other. Perhaps this is the Overlords’ motive as well. But like most outsiders, the Overlords are not immediately welcomed by everyone, for many understand that the conflict is between the Overlords and the gods of mankind. Karellen tells the UN Secretary General, Rikki Stormgren, that “[t]hey know that we represent reason and science, and [...] they fear that we will overthrow their gods”(23). Clarke sets up a dichotomy here between reason and science on one hand and the irrational and “unscientific” part of human nature, including religion, on the other. Reason and science win out. Or seem to. The instrument with which human beings can see the past and learn the truth about the origin of world religions wipes out these religions, a development seen by the narrator as a positive step on the way to maturity: “Humanity had lost its ancient gods: now it was old enough to have no need for new ones”(75). But working against this idea like a kind of unconscious undertow is even the name given to the aliens, “Overlords,” as well as echoes of biblical imagery used in their description: “And on the sixth day, Karellen, Supervisor for Earth, made himself known to the world”(18). Stormgren “ had faith in Karellen”(16) and his assistant admits that his real feeling toward Karellen is ”one of overwhelming awe” (37) at their “illimitable power” (42). The Overlords have a “passion for justice and order” (44). They bring peace and comfort to humankind like a good parent taking care of hitherto unruly children. The old gods may be dead, but it seems that new ones have taken their place, and it can be argued that humanity has not grown up at all, simply substituted one set of parental gods with another. The scenario is replete, moreover, with hints early in the narrative that all is not well: The ships pass overhead “like demon-driven clouds” (42). Also “[t]here is something in the future that [Karellen] seems to fear” (24), and he is careful to point out that he does not have absolute power(24), that his race has had its failures 64). There are ”unknown powers above him”(64). So there is clearly more to the Overlords’ visit to Earth than meets the eye. At first it seems as if the problem resides solely in their superiority: “The invaders had brought peace and prosperity to Earth -– but who knew what the cost may be? History was not reassuring; even the most peaceable of contacts between races at very different cultural levels had often resulted in the obliteration of the more backward society. Nations [...] could lose their spirit when confronted by a challenge which they could not meet” (29). This certainly seems to be true by the end of Chapter 9: not only has religion vanished but scientific investigation has ground to a halt since what’s the point of proceeding if the Overlords have already done all the work. https://sites.google.com/site/mboretz/lecture5
AdamSmith Posted November 27, 2017 Posted November 27, 2017 Utopia However, by ending war and other cruelties, the Overlords bring a true Utopia into being. Never mind that it could never have come about without their help. It seems that we are in need of a stern parent figure who can punish us if we go astray (Witness the fate of those attending the bull fight!). Is Clarke’s scenario, then, much better than what we have now? Sure it is. There is less suffering in the world, no poverty, war, or race hatred, no cruelty to animals, worldwide opportunities for pleasure, and not just for the rich. Everyone has enough. But there are losses, especially art and science, those two human accomplishments which spring from our creativity. And of course there are drawbacks: “No Utopia can every give satisfaction to everyone, all the time. As their material conditions improve, men raise their sights and become discontented with power and possessions that once would have seemed beyond their wildest dreams. And even when the external world has granted all it can, there still remain the searchings of the mind and the longings of the heart.” (90) Childhood’s End is not a prophecy of the future. It is a science fiction novel, and contains not only extrapolation and speculation about the future, but also the stuff of which novels are made –images, narrative voice, characters. As science fiction, it takes on one of the major challenges of the genre, the depiction of alien life. Imagery The 1953 "Prologue" immediately sets up a major contrast in the novel, the warm familiar life on earth contrasted to the indifference of the rest of the universe: on the supposed eve of America’s venture into space, Reinhold Hoffman (a German scientist now working for the US) contemplates the island Taratua from which the spaceship Columbus is to be launched: "It was quiet here beneath the palms, high up on the rocky spine of the island.” We are told that he “had grown fond of these clustered palms....It saddened him to think that they would be blasted to atoms” when the Columbus leaves earth for the stars (7)--“the aloof indifferent stars” which within minutes come to humankind as the Overlords’ ship sweeps down to earth (11). That this comforting living world has not always been so is implied in the first sentence of the novel: “The volcano that had reared Taratua up from the Pacific depths had been sleeping now for half a million years,” and this is followed by Reinhold’s thought that “Yet in a little while…the island would be bathed with fires fiercer than any that had attended its birth” as the Columbus “rose in flame and fury to the stars”(7). Humankind’s quest for the stars will be more destructive than the fiery birth of islands. Life on earth then is a brief period of calm surrounded by violent cataclysm whether natural or man-made. The space ship will never leave earth, but we will witness cataclysm again before the novel is over as certain “sleeping” human powers awaken. Characters The voice telling us this story is most similar to the voice narrating “The Star,” far off and distant with a similar godlike perspective, able at will to dip down into the lives of Reingold, Stormgren, Rupert Boyce, Jan Rodricks, Jean and George Greggson, characters who play their representative parts in the drama that is not focused on them and their development but on the development of one of the book’s major characters, the human race. The other major character is, of course, Karellen. In presenting the Overlords, Clarke is shrewd in building suspense about their appearance. Stormgren’s assistant constantly comes up with theories as to why Karellen does not reveal himself, theories reading like bad science fiction plots. The reader is swept along, wondering, like human beings in the novel do, first what the aliens look like and then why they are here. The revelation that they resemble demons explains why they have kept themselves hidden, but not why the memory has stayed so long in the myths of humankind. We -– and the characters--assume that the Overlords encountered human beings millions of years ago and it was not a happy meeting. Just after the ouija board reveals the name of the Overlord’s sun, for the first time, we see two of the aliens alone together, discussing the incident. Clarke is clever at circumventing the problem of describing their conversation--he admits that he can’t: “'This man Boyce,’ said Karellen. ‘Tell me all about him.’ “The Supervisor did not use those actual word, of course, and the thoughts he really expressed were far more subtle. A human listener would have heard a short burst of rapidly modulated sound"(101). In this way we are able to eavesdrop on members of a species whose language is to us unknowable because of their superiority, and it’s here that we begin to see concrete evidence that the Overlords' purpose on earth is not altruistic. In studying Rupert Boyce’s collection of psychic phenomena, Rashaverak has noted “eleven clear cases of partial breakthrough”(102) and designates Jean Morrell “too old to be a Prime Contact herself” and thus placed in “Category Purple.” She is “the most important human being alive”(103). We don’t know why yet, but we will.
AdamSmith Posted November 27, 2017 Posted November 27, 2017 Alien Encounter Fiction Childhood’s End fits neatly into that sub-genre known as “alien encounter fiction,” where the alien is an Other who is comparable though superior to human beings. The contrast between us and the Overlords is significant: Seeing ourselves through Karellen’s eyes, we are introduced afresh to all our problems as a species but also to our great creative powers (which, ironically, are dampened by the Overlords’ arrival). Karellen tells Rashaverak: “Human beings are remarkably ingenious and often very persistent. It is never safe to underrate them” (104). He is doubtlessly remembering Stormgren’s neat trick by which he found out the truth of Karellen’s appearance (We will never know if Karellen deliberately and affectionately rewarded his ingenuity with a glimpse, though Stormgren to his dying day believes so). Karellen sees in Jan Rodricks the same ingenuity, and so will we. The human race receives a collective pat on the back as even the far-superior alien realizes that there is some value to human beings. Though alien encounter fiction can involve mutants, alter egos, sentient computers, the most common encounter is with extraterrestrials. The problem is how to depict them: “A complaint about the depiction of extraterrestrials is that they are never really alien; for how can a writer create something that is truly Other? Absolute Otherness is an artistic impossibility. That which is completely Other would also be also completely incomprehensible to the reader.”(Carl Malmgren, Worlds Apart, 57) We need some sort of comparison to earthly beings or we could make no sense of what we were seeing and no writer could describe it. If you look carefully at the descriptions of Overlords you will see that they do not look human at all. When George Greggson meets Rashaverak in Rupert Boyce's library he feels: "There was nothing really anthropomorphic about Rashavaerak[....]The body was neither like that of a man nor that of any animal Earth had ever known."(82) They are giants, with wings, horns and tails. Still, they are analogously human -- they walk upright, have a head, a face, a body, two legs, two arms, two hands. They may talk and think too fast for us to understand, but they are an extrapolation from our own rationality and technical expertise, a model of what we might become with the appropriate passage of time. But who has sent them? We haven’t met all the aliens yet. Keep reading. Assignments for Week of Oct. 2: Finish reading Childhood's End. Paper 1 assignment available by Friday, Oct. 6; due Saturday, Oct. 21.
AdamSmith Posted November 27, 2017 Posted November 27, 2017 Inferno (Dante) Canto III: The Gate of Hell Per me si va ne la città dolente, per me si va ne l'etterno dolore, per me si va tra la perduta gente. Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore: fecemi la divina potestate, la somma sapienza e 'l primo amore. Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create se non etterne, e io etterno duro.Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate. Through me you go to the grief-wracked city; Through me you go to everlasting pain; Through me you go a pass among lost souls. Justice inspired my exalted Creator: I am a creature of the Holiest Power, of Wisdom in the Highest and of Primal Love. Nothing till I was made was made, only eternal beings. And I endure eternally.Abandon all hope — Ye Who Enter Here. Variant translation: 'Through me the way to the suffering city; Through me the everlasting pain; Through me the way that runs among the Lost. Justice urged on my exalted Creator: Divine Power made me, The Supreme Wisdom and the Primal Love. Nothing was made before me but eternal things And I endure eternally. Abandon all hope - You Who Enter Here.' Variant Translation: 'I am the way into the city of woe. I am the way to a forsaken people. I am the way into eternal sorrow. Sacred justice moved my architect. I was raised here by divine omnipotence, primordial love and ultimate intellect. Only those elements time cannot wear are beyond me, and beyond time I stand. Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here.' https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Inferno_(Dante)#Canto_III:_The_Gate_of_Hell
AdamSmith Posted November 27, 2017 Posted November 27, 2017 “THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE CITY OF WOE, THROUGH ME THE WAY TO ETERNAL PAIN, THROUGH ME THE WAY AMONG THE LOST. JUSTICE MOVED MY MAKER ON HIGH. DIVINE POWER MADE ME, WISDOM SUPREME, AND PRIMAL LOVE. BEFORE ME NOTHING WAS BUT THINGS ETERNAL, AND I ENDURE ETERNALLY. ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE.” https://classicsincontext.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/canto-iii-per-me-si-va-ne-la-citta-dolente/
AdamSmith Posted November 27, 2017 Posted November 27, 2017 'Gate of Hell' -- William Blake http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/gallery02.html
AdamSmith Posted November 27, 2017 Posted November 27, 2017 4 hours ago, AdamSmith said: Surprised by Sin The Reader in Paradise Lost, Second Edition with a New Preface “Thirty years after its original publication, Surprised by Sin remains the one indispensable book on Milton. This dazzling, high-stakes work of mind taught a generation of readers how to read anew. And, lest we thought its rigorous injunctions had been dulled or blandly assimilated by the intervening years, Fish dares us, in a formidable new preface, to think again.”—Linda Gregerson, University of Michigan “Thirty years ago, Surprised by Sin initiated the modern age in Milton criticism. Still the one book necessarily engaged by Milton scholars, it continues to provoke, irritate, and illuminate. Reissued now, with a substantial new preface, it clarifies in fascinating ways not only the course of Milton studies but also the continuing career of its controversial author.”—Marshall Grossman, University of Maryland at College Park “The first edition of Surprised by Sin revised the critical landscape of Milton studies more significantly and more influentially than any other analysis of Paradise Lost in modern history. The second edition contains a substantial preface, not only an apologia but also a brilliant critical manifesto in its own right. Fish thereby affirms the validity, preeminence, and timeliness of his ‘great argument,’ which will continue to inform critical debates unremittingly in the future.”—Albert C. Labriola, Duquesne University http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674857476&content=reviews
