Lilian Nattel's Blog, page 33

grammar changes votes

new study shows how voter reactions differ according to which form of past tense is used! http://ow.ly/5WP76

Filed under: Miscellany

coal and the Buddha

via photography.nationalgeographic.com

This photo speaks for itself.

Filed under: Miscellany

A Reading Find: The Real Shangri-la

The other day, A and I were talking about our kids. One thing led to another as it does, and soon we were talking about patriarchy and matriarchy. A, who has an encyclopedic knowledge (his nickname is Mr. Peabody though he is much cuter), told me about the Naxi (also spelled Nakhi) and the sub-group Mosuo. Among these people women are the heads of households, raising their children with support from brothers. They have boyfriends when and how they wish, but these men have no authority over them or their children. Historically, male authority was founded on anxiety over the paternity of their children. Control of women assuaged that anxiety, but it's irrelevant when the nuclear family is composed of mother, children, and uncles.

Fascinated, I googled the Naxi and Mosuo. One thing led to another as it does on the internet, and I came across a wonderful travel book by Peter Goullart. He lived in China for about 25 years from 1924 to 1949, and throughout the 40′s he lived in the territory of these peoples in Yunnan province in the south-western corner of China near Tibet. He lived in the same town (Lijiang) as John Rock, whose writings on this part of China formed the basis for Lost Horizon. I'll write a review when I finish the book. But I can tell you that so far it is entirely delightful.

You can find The Forgotten Kingdom by Peter Goullart here. I saved the file, used Calibre software to convert it to epub format, and then moved it to my Kobo. And now I'm off to read.

Naxi musicians in Lijiang, Yunnan-photo by Peter Morgan

Filed under: Interesting, Literary Tagged: matriarchy, Naxi and Mosuo

24 hours in pictures

via guardian.co.uk

By turns gripping and charming: photos around the world in one day. Click on the link above.

Filed under: Miscellany

The Mind's Eye: A Review

"Language, that most human invention, can enable what, in principle, should not be possible. It can allow all of us, even the congenitally blind, to see with another person's eyes." Oliver Sacks.

Oliver Sacks, now 77, has been a New York neurologist since 1965 and an author for 40 years. The Mind's Eye is his 11th book, as fascinating as his previous ones. He writes vividly about the interaction between mind and brain, the way that different people creatively adapt to neurological change and the way that the brain responds to changes in the body.

Blindness, full or partial, the loss of the ability to read, inability to recognize faces, a stroke–any of these could be and are initially debilitating. But the adaptation, for the people in this book, allows them to live a full life, and for some of them a fuller and more meaningful one as they open up in other ways.

I was most struck by 2 of the cases in The Mind's Eye. The first was Howard Engel's–a Canadian mystery writer. I'd heard some years back that he had suffered alexia (the inability to read) following a stroke. Although he could still write, he couldn't read what he himself wrote. How tragic for a writer. And yet because of his determination, he re-taught himself painstakingly and excruciatingly slowly to read and went on to write several more books.

The other case was that of Oliver Sacks himself, who wrote about his lifelong prosopagnosia, an inability to recognize faces, and his experience of ocular cancer and vision loss. Considering vision leads to considering thought itself, to meaning and the interaction of language, personality, consciousness and action. He quotes from his own journals–giving a sense of the immediate (including drawings!). And he quotes from others' memoirs, both those who have experienced vision loss and those who have studied it, from 150 years ago to the present. So much to think about here.

"Rain has a way of bringing out the contours of everything: it throws a coloured blanket over previously invisible things; instead of an intermittent and thus fragmented world, the steadily falling rain creates continuity of acoustic experience…" John Hull in his memoir, Touching The Rock

Sacks has been criticized for putting anecdote above research. He has also been criticized for exploiting people with disabilities. I can't speak to the first, but his portrayal of people is infused with interest, appreciation and respect. My feeling, as I read, is one of inspiration and admiration for human ingenuity and spirit. I didn't want to put the book down, and when I finished it, I was hungry for more reading. Highly recommended.

Filed under: Interesting, Literary Tagged: Oliver Sacks

The Enchanted April: A Review

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim tells the story of four women in the early 1920′s who share a small, remote Italian castle for a month, and in doing so their lives forever change.

The women range in age from late 20′s to early 60′s. Each of them has a central problem that has caused them to become stultified. But the beauty of the Italian countryside, the contrast with dreary England, and the serendipity of the company of strangers whom they'd never spend time with at home because of class and personality differences, cause each of them to bloom and their authentic selves to emerge in all their vibrancy.

Lottie Wilkins and Rose Arbuthnot are the best developed of the four characters. Mrs. Wilkins, an intelligent, imaginative, loving, accepting woman is stuck with a self-admiring, respectable, stingy–emotionally as well as materially–husband who cares only for what will enhance his image and thereby his career. As a result she has become bland, self-effacing, shabby in presence and in dress.

Mrs. Arbuthnot holds a secret passion for her husband which she has suppressed for years. Ashamed of his occupation, she has sublimated her passion for him and her shame into good works. Her religiosity is of the stern and judgmental sort, and she has become someone who allows herself no pleasures even though her husband would delight in her having them.

I especially enjoyed Arnim's wit in describing Lottie's and Rose's marriages. She perfectly depicts them gradually coming out of their shells because of their growing friendship and the adventure they undertake together.

The other two women in the castle foursome are Mrs. Fisher and Caroline Dester. Mrs. Fisher is dedicated to the past, obsessed by the glory of her youthful acquaintances, all of them giants compared to the paltry (to her mind) figures of the 1920′s literary and political scene. Caroline Dester is a cynical young woman who detests her own beauty because, along with her wealth, it causes her constant and unwanted attention from men. She craves solitude. These women, too, find themselves changed in the castle.

Elizabeth Von Arnim, born in 1866, wrote The Enchanted April in the early 1920s. (As an aside, I was interested to discover that Katherine Mansfield was her cousin–quite the literary family, at least the women.) Her first husband was domineering, the "man of wrath," she called him, and this intimate knowledge of a difficult and painful marriage enlivened The Enchanted April:

Mr. Wilkins, a solicitor, encouraged thrift except that branch of it which got into his food. He did not call that food, he called it bad housekeeping. But for the thrift which, like moth, penetrated into Mrs. Wilkins' clothes and spoilt them, he had much praise.

The Enchanted April is brilliant in its first half, enjoyable in the second, which is padded with a bit too much description of weekly changes in the flora. Overall it's a great read for summer, sickness or stress. Uplifting, pleasurable, and available for free on Gutenberg if you have an e-reader.

Filed under: Literary Tagged: 1920s fiction, modern novels

Jack Layton

Jack Layton is a rare politician: a man of dignity, decency, and optimism, respected by all parties. For my non-Canadian friends, this is the man who led the left-leaning NDP party from a handful of seats to form the official opposition in parliament, a man who surprised everyone this election, sweeping the province of Quebec with his buoyant presence.

He campaigned with his cane after hip surgery. Before that he was open about his treatment for prostate cancer. Along with other Canadians, I was shocked and dismayed to see him at his press conference yesterday. He was obviously ill, thin, haggard, his voice changed–all just in the 2 months since the election. He said that the results from his prostate cancer checkup were fine, but another cancer had been discovered. He is undergoing treatment and currently taking a leave.

Jack's wife, Olivia Chow, is the representative for my riding in Toronto. My heart goes out to Jack and Olivia. I wish him a thorough recovery. I wish Olivia strength and hope in the coming months. They are good people. They need all the prayers, support, good wishes, and kind thoughts we can provide.

Filed under: Concerning

Norway

I won't give the right-wing murderer a platform and I won't satisfy his zest for notoriety by naming him. Instead I want to send my heart-felt thoughts and sympathies to the people of Norway and to the families who are mourning. I stand with them for love, tolerance, and openness. That is what needs voice and naming.

Filed under: Concerning Tagged: events in Norway

Heat Wave Over! And my book is…

I'm a new woman! The heat took its toll. The only way I could tell the difference between a hot flash and hot air was that I needed 2 ice packs vs 1 to keep from turning into a puddle. My good humour about the whole situation deteriorated until poor A fled to look for somewhere I could work on Sunday in A/C.

Fortunately, the weather forecast underestimated the cool down Saturday night, and I woke up Sunday morning to real air instead of the soupy imitation that had dragged me down.

I'm nearly done with the copy-edit and my editor's final notes. Anne Collins is brilliant. I just want to share with you, my friends, a bit of her last email to me:

Lilian, here is the copy edit, and my few remaining editorial thoughts…the copy edit is light light light…and my thoughts basically totally blown away by how wonderful it is, and how thoroughly you thought through and addressed everything from the edit…the whole darn thing is pitch perfect, and some of the scenes are so powerful that even though I know what is coming I was hit as hard as if I'd never read any of it.

I've seen the cover and it's gorgeous.

Filed under: Literary, Personal Tagged: Writing Life

can you hold hands in the San Fran Jewish Museum?

[Jane] Levikow was in the gallery with her partner when she noticed a young lesbian couple in heated conversation with a security guard.

"They were holding hands," Levikow said, "and he told them they couldn't hold hands in the museum."

via sfgate.com

The irony? The featured exhibit was the "evolving public personae, lifestyle, and relationships," of Gertrude Stein. The museum officials have reprimanded the guard.

Filed under: Miscellany