Robert Jacoby's Blog, page 9
October 2, 2014
My Poem of the Day
In Summer nights
(first published in Sleet Magazine, Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2011)
I remember as a boy watching my father from my bedroom window, in our backyard, some cool summer night... He was an engineer who drove trains for a living. When I think of him, now, I really miss him.
window screens sieved night-cooled air and cricket’s lull
far off train whistle, waning,
wistful,
my father sat smoking in the backyard in his Adirondack chair,
thoughtful arc of cigarette tracing
secrets harbored from God and men.
(first published in Sleet Magazine, Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2011)
I remember as a boy watching my father from my bedroom window, in our backyard, some cool summer night... He was an engineer who drove trains for a living. When I think of him, now, I really miss him.
window screens sieved night-cooled air and cricket’s lull
far off train whistle, waning,
wistful,
my father sat smoking in the backyard in his Adirondack chair,
thoughtful arc of cigarette tracing
secrets harbored from God and men.
September 28, 2014
Review of The Bhagavad Gita, Introduction and Translated by Eknath Easwaran
Title: Exceptional introduction to Hindu scripture and belief
(Background: Over a couple of decades' time I planned to read the scriptures of the world's great religions/philosophies. I started with my own, reading the Bible in two different translations--first the Hebrew-Greek Word Study Bible by Spiros Zodhiates, and then the KJV--to gain a better grasp on my spirituality and to think critically about why and what I believed. I also wanted to get a better understanding of the world's major religions so that I could be more in tune with people, their language and their culture, and current events. Next I turned to Islam and Al-Quaran. After that The Bhagavad Gita and the Analects of Confucius. Every reading is helping me go a bit deeper and wider into man's search for God and, through that, meaning in this life. More books and reviews to come.)
The Bhagavad Gita (the Gita) is likely the best known (to Western minds) of Hindu scriptures. What's not likely known is that it is but a tiny portion of a larger Sanskrit epic poem, Mahabharata; which, at ~1.8 million words, is the longest known epic poem (for comparison, the Mahabharata is 10 times the length of The Illiad and The Odyssey combined). Its been compared in breadth and depth to the whole of Greek literature or Shakespeare. The Bhagavad Gita is 700 verses of that larger work. Before buying a copy of the Gita I did a little research. I wanted a translation that was well respected among the community of scholars but also easily accessible, true to its roots, and with plenty of explanatory material. I found that in this volume.
Eknath Easwaran is widely recognized for his work as a teacher, writer, and translator. I think this volume has everything you'd want for your introduction to the Gita and its relationship to Hinduism:
--in-depth author introductions for the entire book and for each chapter
--end notes that provide deeper explorations and explanations of the text
--excellent glossary of terms
--index
The Bhagavad Gita is "The Song of the Lord." Who is the Lord? Krishna. From the glossary: ""black"; or from krish 'to draw, to attract to oneself'....'The Dark One' or 'He who draws us to Himself,'.... He is the inner Lord, who personifies spiritual love and lives in the hearts of all beings." He comes to visit Prince Arjuna on the brink of a war he does not want to fight. He's struggling. From the back cover: "The Bhagavad Gita opens .... on a battlefield, as the warrior Arjuna turns in anguish to his spiritual guide, Sri Krisha, for answers to the fundamental questions of life." So, "the Gita's subject is the war within, the struggle for self-mastery that every human being must wage' to live a life that is meaningful, fulfilling, and worthwhile."
But what is "meaningful, fulfilling, and worthwhile"?
As a Christian, I know what sustains me. As a writer and student of life, I'm interested in understanding others and learning how others live life, what sustains them, what gives them purpose, why they think we're here. In sum: why is there something instead of nothing? (If you're an atheist the answer, of course, is "just because"; a foolish response, to me, which logically leads to nihilism.) Reading this copy of the Gita provided me with a great introduction to Hinduism, its beliefs, and its traditions. Easwaran has a unique mastery of language, teaching, and practice; he explains this Hindu spiritual text and Hindu spirituality in a very practical way. His very lengthy introduction places the Gita in its historical context and what it means among the classics of Indian spirituality.
I recommend getting the paper copy: it has front and back cover flaps handy to use as bookmarks. I jotted many notes in the back, as I typically do with these sorts of books. Some include that Krishna is "the attractive one" and at the same time "the dark one" (p. 113) and also "the beginning and the end" (p. 175); that no soul can be eternally lost (p. 214); and that "evil is transient and therefore is not ultimately real" (p. 245). And "[Knowledge of goodness] sees the one indestructible Being in all beings, the unity underlying the multiplicity of creation" (p. 258).
During my reading and note taking I found the differences between Christianity and Hinduism to be deep and striking; I caution other Christians to read this book with real deliberation. "Don't let anyone lead you astray..." (Col. 2:8).
(As an aside, reading the Gita influenced a line in one of my [many] unpublished poems, titled "Tears wet the sea colour sky." I was reading the Gita on vacation in Belize and, based on all my previous readings of the world's religious scriptures--and also after touring the temples in the jungle--got inspired. A portion of the poem is:
...
This sensual fronded heat, residue of creations
How the universe first loved.
The destroyer of worlds speaks with one thousand mouths.
...
That last line is a nod to Krishna, and my ex-wife.)
5 stars. I think it's an exceptional introduction to this Hindu scripture in particular and Hinduism's beliefs and practices in general.
The Bhagavad Gita
September 27, 2014
Best Songs You've (Maybe) Never Heard of from Bands You've (Maybe) Never Heard of (Part 4)
The most recent playlist I've created is a mix of new (super new!) and recent alternative, indie, rock, and pop. Check them out.
Just copy and paste into your search bar. And remember: support the artists if you appreciate their music! Purchase, don't pirate! They worked long and hard on their craft; show your appreciation.
Now for the goodies:
Quiet House by Color Radio (1,409 views on YouTube)
Boat by The Tallest Tree (191 views on YouTube)
Cold Cold Man by Saint Model
Bros by Wolf Alice
Do You by Spoon
Call up the Whales by Ginger and the Ghost
Another Season by No Middle Name
Hallways by Rockets
100 k's 'round Carmel by Nicholas Allbrook (down tempo, lo fi, psychedelia)
Cut Fast by Rapids
How the Ranks Was Won by Brazos
Minds a Burden by The Upskirts
Stay This Way by Evan & the Brave
The Next World by Opus Orange
Blush by Mr Twin Sister
I Did Crimes for You by Deefhoof
Gold Toothy by B. Hamilton
Fish by Wye Oak
Turn It Up by Stars
Just copy and paste into your search bar. And remember: support the artists if you appreciate their music! Purchase, don't pirate! They worked long and hard on their craft; show your appreciation.
Now for the goodies:
Quiet House by Color Radio (1,409 views on YouTube)
Boat by The Tallest Tree (191 views on YouTube)
Cold Cold Man by Saint Model
Bros by Wolf Alice
Do You by Spoon
Call up the Whales by Ginger and the Ghost
Another Season by No Middle Name
Hallways by Rockets
100 k's 'round Carmel by Nicholas Allbrook (down tempo, lo fi, psychedelia)
Cut Fast by Rapids
How the Ranks Was Won by Brazos
Minds a Burden by The Upskirts
Stay This Way by Evan & the Brave
The Next World by Opus Orange
Blush by Mr Twin Sister
I Did Crimes for You by Deefhoof
Gold Toothy by B. Hamilton
Fish by Wye Oak
Turn It Up by Stars
September 26, 2014
My Poem of the Day
I really like this one. Hope you do, too.
is Joy
(first published in Cobalt Review, Issue 10, Winter 2013)
my cells clawing their way with need from re-membering pieces of our love,
tongue touch praise and song,
my suffering ends where you begin
dressed in sacred skins
sheltered and holy
unfolding slow
rainy delights
and I weep
knowing you will never know
with what joy I recline at the table of your body.
is Joy
(first published in Cobalt Review, Issue 10, Winter 2013)
my cells clawing their way with need from re-membering pieces of our love,
tongue touch praise and song,
my suffering ends where you begin
dressed in sacred skins
sheltered and holy
unfolding slow
rainy delights
and I weep
knowing you will never know
with what joy I recline at the table of your body.
September 23, 2014
My Poem of the Day
A Theory of Everything
(first published in Dogzplot, Spring 2009)
The pennies in the change dish
fund the revolution.
(first published in Dogzplot, Spring 2009)
The pennies in the change dish
fund the revolution.
September 14, 2014
My Poem of the Day
"When you are in your moon and I am in my sun"
(first published in The Vocabula Review, October 2008)
When you are in your moon and I am in my sun,
our many-prismed passions chained, ribbon our fleshly prisoned souls,
unreflected fetal light bends to time, succumbed,
to each we mouth a shout, listening to the vacuum sing reluctantly,
when you are in your moon, and I am in my sun.
When you nibble your moon and I consume my sun,
our often-tiered hearts palpate methods to construct
labyrinthine mausoleums to our coddled gods
who genuflect on glass kneecaps to their clownish creations;
when you nibble your moon and I consume my sun.
When you walk your moon and I run my sun,
time twists cruel icicles through our marrow,
our isolated bones call each to all. My flesh does not fit.
Our hallowed sighs rest on crucified stars, falling,
when you walk your moon and I run my sun.
When you throw your moon and I tempt my sun,
the dark matter between us mocks and cries its need:
Rockets love best when they explode.
Her now-anonymous diamond bleeds.
When you throw your moon and I tempt my sun.
When I am exiled on your vacant moon,
and you are swallowed by my swimming sun,
I ask the only-obelisk questions:
Can you ever know my marbled mind?
Will I re-touch your uni-starred soul?
(first published in The Vocabula Review, October 2008)
When you are in your moon and I am in my sun,
our many-prismed passions chained, ribbon our fleshly prisoned souls,
unreflected fetal light bends to time, succumbed,
to each we mouth a shout, listening to the vacuum sing reluctantly,
when you are in your moon, and I am in my sun.
When you nibble your moon and I consume my sun,
our often-tiered hearts palpate methods to construct
labyrinthine mausoleums to our coddled gods
who genuflect on glass kneecaps to their clownish creations;
when you nibble your moon and I consume my sun.
When you walk your moon and I run my sun,
time twists cruel icicles through our marrow,
our isolated bones call each to all. My flesh does not fit.
Our hallowed sighs rest on crucified stars, falling,
when you walk your moon and I run my sun.
When you throw your moon and I tempt my sun,
the dark matter between us mocks and cries its need:
Rockets love best when they explode.
Her now-anonymous diamond bleeds.
When you throw your moon and I tempt my sun.
When I am exiled on your vacant moon,
and you are swallowed by my swimming sun,
I ask the only-obelisk questions:
Can you ever know my marbled mind?
Will I re-touch your uni-starred soul?
September 7, 2014
Review of The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation by Roger T. Ames and Henry Rosemont Jr.
Title: Excellent introduction to how language impacts individual thought, a culture, and a civilization
(Background: Over a couple of decades' time I planned to read the scriptures of the world's great religions/philosophies. I started with my own, reading the Bible in two different translations, first the Hebrew-Greek Word Study Bible by Spiros Zodhiates, and then the NIV. Next I turned to Islam and Al-Quaran. After that The Bhagavad Gita and the Analects of Confucius. Every reading is helping me go a bit deeper and wider into man's search for God and, through that, meaning in this life. More books and reviews to come.)
I read this book on a beach vacation a few years ago. I enjoyed it very much. I'd not read much previously about Confucius or Confucianism, the ethical and philosophical system derived from the man's teachings; this volume filled that void.
The book consists of a lengthy Introduction--70 pages. The Analects are then presented in 20 "books"; the Chinese text is presented alongside the English translation. Appendices take up the remainder.
What I enjoyed most about this book was the Introduction. The authors go to great lengths to explain the times that Confucius (551-479 BC) lived in--the government, the politics, the family structure--and the language of classical Chinese. This is most important to understanding a people, their culture, and what (and why) they believe what they believe, and how they build their civilization. We in the West know that the Orient is different; the authors gave me a better understanding of why. For example, in classical Chinese there are no words as there are in English for--among others--"freedom," "liberty," "choice," "individual," "reason," "autonomy." The authors write: "None of these English words has a close analogue in classical Chinese...." (p. 54).
Let that sink in.
I mean: *really* sink in.
"Freedom." "Liberty." "Choice." "Individual." "Reason." "Autonomy."
If you don't have a word to describe something, then that something simply and "correctly" does not exist for you.
Frightening and eye-opening all at once.....
So for me the Introduction and the insight it provided into Chinese language and, thus, fundamentally, Chinese thinking was worth the price of the book.
The Analects themselves are stories of Confucius' wanderings in the countryside and his sayings on what he thinks is best for proper government, from the emperor down to local rulers down to relations among family. That's about it. But it provides great insight into Chinese thinking. The text at times is rather dry and straightforward. Don't expect "Confucius say...." nonsense. It doesn't exist.
Read this book for the great introduction it is to one of the world's great and largest philosophical (some would say religious) systems. And also for the keen insight it provides into the Chinese people and why things are the way they are.
What's past is prologue.
Sept. 27, 2014 note: The September/October 2014 issue of Foreign Affairs has a short review of the recently published book "An Anatomy of Chinese: Rhythm, Metaphor, Politics" by Perry Link. The first sentence of the review: "Link focuses on how Chinese syntax is to a great extent ordered by speech and sound and not by the kind of grammatical logic at work in many Western languages. He scrutinizes the ways in which certain Chinese words take on metaphoric meanings." The book has a price tag of $39.95, but if you're interested in the topic, it sounds like a necessary book.
(Background: Over a couple of decades' time I planned to read the scriptures of the world's great religions/philosophies. I started with my own, reading the Bible in two different translations, first the Hebrew-Greek Word Study Bible by Spiros Zodhiates, and then the NIV. Next I turned to Islam and Al-Quaran. After that The Bhagavad Gita and the Analects of Confucius. Every reading is helping me go a bit deeper and wider into man's search for God and, through that, meaning in this life. More books and reviews to come.)
I read this book on a beach vacation a few years ago. I enjoyed it very much. I'd not read much previously about Confucius or Confucianism, the ethical and philosophical system derived from the man's teachings; this volume filled that void.
The book consists of a lengthy Introduction--70 pages. The Analects are then presented in 20 "books"; the Chinese text is presented alongside the English translation. Appendices take up the remainder.
What I enjoyed most about this book was the Introduction. The authors go to great lengths to explain the times that Confucius (551-479 BC) lived in--the government, the politics, the family structure--and the language of classical Chinese. This is most important to understanding a people, their culture, and what (and why) they believe what they believe, and how they build their civilization. We in the West know that the Orient is different; the authors gave me a better understanding of why. For example, in classical Chinese there are no words as there are in English for--among others--"freedom," "liberty," "choice," "individual," "reason," "autonomy." The authors write: "None of these English words has a close analogue in classical Chinese...." (p. 54).
Let that sink in.
I mean: *really* sink in.
"Freedom." "Liberty." "Choice." "Individual." "Reason." "Autonomy."
If you don't have a word to describe something, then that something simply and "correctly" does not exist for you.
Frightening and eye-opening all at once.....
So for me the Introduction and the insight it provided into Chinese language and, thus, fundamentally, Chinese thinking was worth the price of the book.
The Analects themselves are stories of Confucius' wanderings in the countryside and his sayings on what he thinks is best for proper government, from the emperor down to local rulers down to relations among family. That's about it. But it provides great insight into Chinese thinking. The text at times is rather dry and straightforward. Don't expect "Confucius say...." nonsense. It doesn't exist.
Read this book for the great introduction it is to one of the world's great and largest philosophical (some would say religious) systems. And also for the keen insight it provides into the Chinese people and why things are the way they are.
What's past is prologue.
Sept. 27, 2014 note: The September/October 2014 issue of Foreign Affairs has a short review of the recently published book "An Anatomy of Chinese: Rhythm, Metaphor, Politics" by Perry Link. The first sentence of the review: "Link focuses on how Chinese syntax is to a great extent ordered by speech and sound and not by the kind of grammatical logic at work in many Western languages. He scrutinizes the ways in which certain Chinese words take on metaphoric meanings." The book has a price tag of $39.95, but if you're interested in the topic, it sounds like a necessary book.
September 6, 2014
10 Indie Movies You Should See
1. Primer
$7,000 budget.
Filmed in 5 weeks.
No-name actors.
Best time-travel movie ever made.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CC60...
2. 50/50
Maybe not entirely indie, but it has the feel of an indie.
I'm not a huge fan of Seth Rogen, but he works here. Joseph Gordon-Levitt shines in lead.
If you're not nearly crying when he goes into surgery, check your heart and your humanity.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeh5Y...
3. The Sessions
Based on an autobiography of a man who is paralyzed from the neck down who hires a sex surrogate to lose his virginity. 5-star script and acting from Helen Hunt and also William H. Macy. Lead John Hawkes is said to have received standing ovations at its screening at Sundance.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy2y7...
4. Memento
Put on your thinking cap.
You're going backwards, you're going forwards.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMBTM...
5. Timecrimes
Spanish.
Time travel.
Grab a bucket of popcorn and have fun.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrzI3...
6. Lars and the Real Girl
No trailer for this one. Just watch the movie. Quirky and heartfelt.
7. Moon
Starring Sam Rockwell.
Don't watch the trailer.
Plot: A man finishing up his 3-year contract staffing a moon base, alone, runs into some troubles.
8. Special
What happens when an ordinary guy enrolls in a drug study only to find the pills he's taking give him super powers?
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo18E...
9. Right at Your Door
Multiple dirty bombs explode across Los Angeles.
Guy barricades himself in his house to survive.
Nail biter.
10. Safety Not Guaranteed
From the movie poster, which is a classified ad placed in a newspaper:
Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 91 Ocean View, WA 99393. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.
$7,000 budget.
Filmed in 5 weeks.
No-name actors.
Best time-travel movie ever made.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CC60...
2. 50/50
Maybe not entirely indie, but it has the feel of an indie.
I'm not a huge fan of Seth Rogen, but he works here. Joseph Gordon-Levitt shines in lead.
If you're not nearly crying when he goes into surgery, check your heart and your humanity.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeh5Y...
3. The Sessions
Based on an autobiography of a man who is paralyzed from the neck down who hires a sex surrogate to lose his virginity. 5-star script and acting from Helen Hunt and also William H. Macy. Lead John Hawkes is said to have received standing ovations at its screening at Sundance.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy2y7...
4. Memento
Put on your thinking cap.
You're going backwards, you're going forwards.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMBTM...
5. Timecrimes
Spanish.
Time travel.
Grab a bucket of popcorn and have fun.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrzI3...
6. Lars and the Real Girl
No trailer for this one. Just watch the movie. Quirky and heartfelt.
7. Moon
Starring Sam Rockwell.
Don't watch the trailer.
Plot: A man finishing up his 3-year contract staffing a moon base, alone, runs into some troubles.
8. Special
What happens when an ordinary guy enrolls in a drug study only to find the pills he's taking give him super powers?
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo18E...
9. Right at Your Door
Multiple dirty bombs explode across Los Angeles.
Guy barricades himself in his house to survive.
Nail biter.
10. Safety Not Guaranteed
From the movie poster, which is a classified ad placed in a newspaper:
Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 91 Ocean View, WA 99393. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.
September 3, 2014
Review of Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Title: Clever satire in spots but too long and repetitive, then mean
I waited too long to read this novel. I wanted to like it more than I did. I'm in my early 50's. I think if I'd read it in my early 20's, or really late teens, without much life experience at all--and during the 1970s--I would have thought much better of it (probably not; I was old at 15). As it is, I come to this novel now with my own books and poetry published and much of life lived already, and here nearly halfway into the 2010s--and enough experiences to fill two lives or more. Experience colors perspective. Of course.
I won't get into plot details here. What little there are. I'm just providing some feedback after reading the book, and my take on things based on my perspective.
I've not a veteran; my experience comes from sitting down and talking in-depth with many veterans (special operators among them) about their service and combat experiences, from WW2 to Iraq (and several other locales in between). My father served 2 and a half years in the Pacific Theater during WW2 and was awarded four bronze service stars. I've talked with and listened to men relate their experiences of losing limbs and watching men die in combat alongside them. I know much more than the average non-military person about the meaning of the words loyalty, duty, respect, service, honor, discipline, and personal courage. These are traits mocked and denigrated in this novel, and these are traits that are mocked and denigrated in our popular culture today.
I told you that as preface to telling you this: Catch-22 is a funny (satirical and absurdist) novel in some little bits, but it's also a tedious and repetitive novel. I agree with Norman Mailer's assessment in an essay in my copy of the 50th anniversary edition that you could remove 100 pages from the middle of Catch-22 and you wouldn't notice as a reader; and, jokingly Mailer writes, neither would Heller: "not even the author could be certain they were gone."
By the time I'd read to page 125 I'd read all of what Heller had to give stylistically, primarily (more later). That is: each of the chapters from that point on presents essentially the same thing: a character, a little plot detail (what little narrative arc there is) to link to the greater "plot," then a self-contained "story" (really just a slice of life experience of that chapter's sort-of main character). In other words, as Mailer points out: Cut 100 pages in the middle and you've lost nothing of the experience of the novel.
As the novel progresses it becomes bitter and even mean-spirited. Heller lets loose in certain parts of the novel, showing his absurd anti-war sentiments. (Similar to John Lennon's dangerously childish and naive Utopian cult hit "Imagine.") You'll also get this from the extra material in the back of the 50th anniversary edition. Heller absolutely hated war. At all costs. His fictionalized account of American fighter planes strafing Americans is not funny, it's twisted. Read Heller's essay "Reeling in Catch-22" to see what the man really thought. How there was in the 1960s a "change in spirit, a new spirit of healthy irreverence." He goes on to call "Americanism....horsesh**." How it doesn't work. How it's not true. I wanted to say, Really, Mr. Heller? Well, I have a friend who served 2 years in a Chinese re-education camp who came to the U.S. who thinks, pretty much, exactly the opposite as you do. Or read Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
Heller's attitude gels with Utopian peaceniks of the 1960s. It doesn't work so well in the modern realities of Russian gulags and Chinese re-education camps. And the post-modern world of new Islamic jihadist caliphates.
So, for me, where this novel fails miserably is when Heller is tearing down the appropriateness and necessity of war, and when he treads into bitter, completely absurd territory. In some spots I actually was pissed off at how the character Yossarian places other men in danger because of his actions, because he doesn't want to do his duty. That's beyond cowardly; it's not at all funny; it's inhuman.
Having said all that I will say this: I did enjoy portions of the book. Heller's take on the absurdities of the military bureaucracy are funny. There are laugh-out-loud moments, mostly early on, but as the novel goes on the humor lessens and the dreariness and repetitiveness and absurdity settles in and all around. Commanding officers up and down the chain are idiots and worthy of contempt. It wears thin after a while.
Back to my "more later" comment above: Curiously, the final 50 pages of the book are written in a serious (not completely absurdist-satirist) tone. Then the last 5 pages returns to Yossarian's nuttiness. The end.
During the Vietnam War this novel may have served its purpose to give some Americans what they thought they needed: an alternative "narrative" to what they thought America represented. At least what it represented to them living in their cocooned lives out in suburbia. Here we stand at the end of American empire in the first decade of the 21st century, and the novel reads to me like a child stomping its feet in front of its parents about how unfair the world is and how mummy and daddy don't know nothing about nothing and about how everything would be alright if only we could all play nice.
Here's a news flash, Mr. Heller: Life's not fair. The world doesn't care about you. Life doesn't owe you anything. Very often you are asked to look outside yourself and give yourself to something society deems the greater good; this is called real life. There is evil in this world. That's why there's no playing nice. And sociopaths (and a**holes) are at the top because their personalities give them the skills to stomp on good and just people's heads to get there, and stay there. That's the way it is.
If there's an analogy to be made in the movie world, it may be this: Catch-22 is to "war" what Office Space is to "the job". Both poke fun at the "insanity" of their environments by using exaggeration, but we all know that's not how it really is. At least, we should know.
It's OK:
3/5 on Amazon
2/5 on Goodreads
I waited too long to read this novel. I wanted to like it more than I did. I'm in my early 50's. I think if I'd read it in my early 20's, or really late teens, without much life experience at all--and during the 1970s--I would have thought much better of it (probably not; I was old at 15). As it is, I come to this novel now with my own books and poetry published and much of life lived already, and here nearly halfway into the 2010s--and enough experiences to fill two lives or more. Experience colors perspective. Of course.
I won't get into plot details here. What little there are. I'm just providing some feedback after reading the book, and my take on things based on my perspective.
I've not a veteran; my experience comes from sitting down and talking in-depth with many veterans (special operators among them) about their service and combat experiences, from WW2 to Iraq (and several other locales in between). My father served 2 and a half years in the Pacific Theater during WW2 and was awarded four bronze service stars. I've talked with and listened to men relate their experiences of losing limbs and watching men die in combat alongside them. I know much more than the average non-military person about the meaning of the words loyalty, duty, respect, service, honor, discipline, and personal courage. These are traits mocked and denigrated in this novel, and these are traits that are mocked and denigrated in our popular culture today.
I told you that as preface to telling you this: Catch-22 is a funny (satirical and absurdist) novel in some little bits, but it's also a tedious and repetitive novel. I agree with Norman Mailer's assessment in an essay in my copy of the 50th anniversary edition that you could remove 100 pages from the middle of Catch-22 and you wouldn't notice as a reader; and, jokingly Mailer writes, neither would Heller: "not even the author could be certain they were gone."
By the time I'd read to page 125 I'd read all of what Heller had to give stylistically, primarily (more later). That is: each of the chapters from that point on presents essentially the same thing: a character, a little plot detail (what little narrative arc there is) to link to the greater "plot," then a self-contained "story" (really just a slice of life experience of that chapter's sort-of main character). In other words, as Mailer points out: Cut 100 pages in the middle and you've lost nothing of the experience of the novel.
As the novel progresses it becomes bitter and even mean-spirited. Heller lets loose in certain parts of the novel, showing his absurd anti-war sentiments. (Similar to John Lennon's dangerously childish and naive Utopian cult hit "Imagine.") You'll also get this from the extra material in the back of the 50th anniversary edition. Heller absolutely hated war. At all costs. His fictionalized account of American fighter planes strafing Americans is not funny, it's twisted. Read Heller's essay "Reeling in Catch-22" to see what the man really thought. How there was in the 1960s a "change in spirit, a new spirit of healthy irreverence." He goes on to call "Americanism....horsesh**." How it doesn't work. How it's not true. I wanted to say, Really, Mr. Heller? Well, I have a friend who served 2 years in a Chinese re-education camp who came to the U.S. who thinks, pretty much, exactly the opposite as you do. Or read Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
Heller's attitude gels with Utopian peaceniks of the 1960s. It doesn't work so well in the modern realities of Russian gulags and Chinese re-education camps. And the post-modern world of new Islamic jihadist caliphates.
So, for me, where this novel fails miserably is when Heller is tearing down the appropriateness and necessity of war, and when he treads into bitter, completely absurd territory. In some spots I actually was pissed off at how the character Yossarian places other men in danger because of his actions, because he doesn't want to do his duty. That's beyond cowardly; it's not at all funny; it's inhuman.
Having said all that I will say this: I did enjoy portions of the book. Heller's take on the absurdities of the military bureaucracy are funny. There are laugh-out-loud moments, mostly early on, but as the novel goes on the humor lessens and the dreariness and repetitiveness and absurdity settles in and all around. Commanding officers up and down the chain are idiots and worthy of contempt. It wears thin after a while.
Back to my "more later" comment above: Curiously, the final 50 pages of the book are written in a serious (not completely absurdist-satirist) tone. Then the last 5 pages returns to Yossarian's nuttiness. The end.
During the Vietnam War this novel may have served its purpose to give some Americans what they thought they needed: an alternative "narrative" to what they thought America represented. At least what it represented to them living in their cocooned lives out in suburbia. Here we stand at the end of American empire in the first decade of the 21st century, and the novel reads to me like a child stomping its feet in front of its parents about how unfair the world is and how mummy and daddy don't know nothing about nothing and about how everything would be alright if only we could all play nice.
Here's a news flash, Mr. Heller: Life's not fair. The world doesn't care about you. Life doesn't owe you anything. Very often you are asked to look outside yourself and give yourself to something society deems the greater good; this is called real life. There is evil in this world. That's why there's no playing nice. And sociopaths (and a**holes) are at the top because their personalities give them the skills to stomp on good and just people's heads to get there, and stay there. That's the way it is.
If there's an analogy to be made in the movie world, it may be this: Catch-22 is to "war" what Office Space is to "the job". Both poke fun at the "insanity" of their environments by using exaggeration, but we all know that's not how it really is. At least, we should know.
It's OK:
3/5 on Amazon
2/5 on Goodreads
August 28, 2014
10 books that influenced me
List 10 books that influenced you. Don't think too hard about it. Just write them down. Here's mine:
1. The Bible (I've read two different versions cover to cover: 1. The Hebrew-Greek Word Study Bible by Spiros Zodhiates and 2. The NIV)
2. The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley
3. The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
4. The Illiad by Homer (trans by Alexander Pope)
5. The Odyssey by Homer (trans by Alexander Pope)
6. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
7. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
8. Collected Poems by Dylan Thomas
9. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
10. The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor
What are yours?
1. The Bible (I've read two different versions cover to cover: 1. The Hebrew-Greek Word Study Bible by Spiros Zodhiates and 2. The NIV)
2. The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley
3. The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
4. The Illiad by Homer (trans by Alexander Pope)
5. The Odyssey by Homer (trans by Alexander Pope)
6. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
7. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
8. Collected Poems by Dylan Thomas
9. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
10. The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor
What are yours?
