John C. Wright's Blog, page 90
October 14, 2013
GUEST POST: With Great Art Comes Great Responsibility
One of my readers answered my question about the true and the beautiful in words so clear and sentiments so true that I thought it best to reprint them here. Consider this to be a guest essay:
For some reason I could not log in to comment on the Magnificat post. I did want to draw your attention to Charles Murray’s book Human Accomplishment from 2003. In this book Dr. Murray goes through an extremely rigorous statistical analysis of the importance of various historical figures in the most important areas of human endeavor: Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Physics, Mathematics, Medicine, Technology, Combined Sciences, Chinese Philosophy, Indian Philosophy, Western Philosophy, Western Music, Chinese Painting, Japanese Art, Western Art, Arabic Literature, Chinese Literature, Indian Literature, Japanese Literature, and Western Literature.
In all cases he found that human beings accomplish more when they have a cultural and personal sense of higher goods. That the formulations of the schoolmen: *Unum, Bonum, Verum, et* *Pulchrum* is correct. Keeping in mind that Dr. Murray is an agnostic at best, and I believe he is an atheist, it is a powerful admission against interest. Indeed when discussing these issues in interviews and in lectures Murray becomes visibly uncomfortable when the subject comes up. He knows that his own particular lack of faith is borrowing from a greater patrimony, and does not personally replenish the well. To his credit, he is aware of it, and honest enough that he is uncomfortable about it and it’s implications.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
October 13, 2013
The Epic of Space
The following are the words of E.E. Doc Smith describing the writing of his Lensman books. I found it on a corner of the Internet, and I know not if it is still in copyright. If anyone objects I will take it down. Until then, I hope you find it as fascinating as did I:
The Epic of Space
How do I write a space story? The question is simple and straightforward enough. The answer, however, is not; since it involves many factors.
What do I, as a reader, like to read? Campbell, de Camp, Heinlein, Leinster, Lovecraft, Merritt, Moore, Starzl, Taine, van Vogt, Weinbaum, Williamson-all of these rate high in my book. Each has written more than one tremendous story. They cover the field of fantastic fiction, from pure weird to pure science fiction. While very different, each from all the others, they have many things in common, two of which are of interest here.
First, they all put themselves into their work. John Kenton is Abraham Merritt; Jirel of Joiry is Catherine Moore.
Second, each writes-or wrote -between the lines, so that one reading is not enough to discover what is really there. Two are necessary-three and four are often-times highly rewarding. Indeed, there are certain stories which I still re-read, every year or so, with undiminished pleasure.
Consider Merritt, for instance. He wrote four stories “The Ship of Ishtar,” “The Moon Pool,” “The Snake Mother,” and “Dwellers in the Mirage”-which will be immortal. A ten-year-old child can read them and thrill at the exciting adventurous surface stories. A poet can read them over and over for their feeling and imagery. A philologist can study them for their perfection of wording and phraseology. And yet, underlying each of them, there is a bedrock foundation of philosophy, the magnificence of which simply cannot be absorbed at one sitting.
In this connection, how many of you have read, word by word, the ascent to the Bower of Bel, in “The Ship of Ishtar?” Those who have not, have missed one of the most sublime passages in literature. And yet a friend of mine told me that he had skipped “that stuff.” It was too dry!
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
The Magnificat
I have a question for any readers willing to answer.
Listen to the following
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
October 12, 2013
GALACTIC PATROL by E.E. Doc Smith
Once again, I will take the opportunity of not writing a book review of some out-of-date science fiction book to meditate on greater issues, in this case, the relation of art and eternity. Or, if that sounds too highfaluting, the question is why some entertainment is quickly forgotten and some slowly and some never.
In this case, the book not being reviewed is GALACTIC PATROL by E.E. Doc Smith. I hope in days to come to nonreview the other three books that form the core story of the Lensman series, since I am reading them for the first time to my boys, and rereading them for the nth time for myself. It is as close to an immortal classic as a bit of juvenile pulp space opera can ever come.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
GALACTIC PATROL
Once again, I will take the opportunity of not writing a book review of some out-of-date science fiction book to meditate on greater issues, in this case, the relation of art and eternity. Or, if that sounds too highfaluting, the question is why some entertainment is quickly forgotten and some slowly and some never.
In this case, the book not being reviewed is GALACTIC PATROL by E.E. Doc Smith. I hope in days to come to nonreview the other three books that form the core story of the Lensman series, since I am reading them for the first time to my boys, and rereading them for the nth time for myself. It is as close to an immortal classic as a bit of juvenile pulp space opera can ever come.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
October 10, 2013
Descendants and Emulations
This is the original draft of Chapter One of THE HERMETIC MILLENNIA, which was cut for reasons of space and pacing. Usually, when I have to cut a scene, I do it with the merciless lack of regret that accompanies a battlefield surgeon doing triage, committing an amputation without morphine to save the patient. In this one case, there was one short paragraph which I thought delightful but which could not be salvaged for any other scene: it is when Thucydides Montrose is reciting a poem by Peersworthy he was forced to memorize as a child, glorifying Menelaus Montrose, who is naturally aghast.
In any case, for any purists who like to look at extras on the DVD’s and see what the director wanted to keep in but the muses forced him to cut, here is this tidbit:
Descendants and Emulations
AD 2501
1. Uneasy Lies the Head
All he wanted to do was stay dead.
“Leave me the hell alone,” were the first words out of the mouth of Menelaus I. Montrose when the lid of his coffin hissed open, and shrouds of mist unfurled in contact with the outer air.
“Greetings, High Ancestor, Highest and Highly-Evolved!” said a gaudily tattooed figure. It looked like a woman in a skintight wetsuit of glittering pictures, but then he realized, when he saw her nipples blinking, that she was nude.
She was covered from head to toe with a labyrinth of tattoos and body paints, some of it glowing as if with neon light, and there was a semicircular headdress of yard-wide ostrich feathers, looking like a cross between a warbonnet and a feather duster, spread out from a beehive of hair. He hoped this was just a revivification hallucination.
He rubbed his hand across his eyes, and blinked. On the inside of the coffin lid, conveniently near his eyes had it been closed, was the calendar. November, AD 2501. He looked at the date with dismay.
The women who was not his wife was talking, “The World you rule welcomes and adores you! Are you ready to receive the petitions and supplications of those who watch and guard you as you slumber?”
“Shuddup. I don’t want to be brought back to life. Waste of my time.”
His words were preceded and followed with a gush of nanotech medical fluid, dibbling into a beard spread across his chest like a damp bib. So they came out in more like a gargle than the commanding bellow the world’s first posthuman should possess.
”Abject apologies, High Ancestor. But in the eyes of the Law, persons in suspended animation are alive, and retain the privileges and immunities of life, as well as the duties.”
“Thought I had those damn laws fixed. You lot fix ‘em back whilst Greatgrandpa Meany was a-slumbering, eh?” He was not the great-grandfather of any here, of course, having been married only one day, and fathering no offspring. These were descendents of his long lost brothers and cousins.
The tattooed lady was still speaking. “I bear the greetings and praise of a grateful world, O Liberator, Defender of the Slumbering Dead, Shield against the Ghosts of Iron, Bridegroom of the Stars, and Firstfruits of the Humanity beyond Humanity!”
“Did you just call me a fruit?”
“While you slumbered serenely in suspended animation, you have been elected by the Advocate Authority to the following positions…”
“Skip the list. I resign.”
“Sire and Archon, I respectfully regret to inform you that certain of the Advocates of the Darwinian Translation have decreed that you may not foreswear the various duties that your status as a transhuman being, the Next Step of Evolution, imposes upon you. They have clearly decreed.”
“Fine. Leave the names and addresses of those guys who decreed all that, I’ll go find them and decree them a few broken bones, and then I can get back to being dead, like I wanted.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
October 9, 2013
The Liberty Amendments
Between finishing my overdue manuscript for my publisher, work, out of town visitors, family life, and various computer breakdowns, I have not been able to write a regular column on a regular basis. That may change in the near future, so my fan should not worry himself.
In the meanwhile, I read an article in Forbes that so delighted me, I thought I would reprint it here, in part. It contains three things to delight my cold and logical heart: first, a denunciation of Woodrow Wilson; second, applause to Mark Levin, who points out that the framers of the US Constitution wisely put in TWO mechanisms for amendment, one of which does not require the consent or participation of the federal government, only of the states; third, recommending horsewhipping for the public dissemination of Keynesian Economics, which made the blithering nonsense of borrowing your way out of debt via currency debasement sound like wise advice from experts instead of the foam-grimaced raving ‘in the long run we are all dead’ Cloudcuckooland lunacy that it is.
You can read the whole thing here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterferrara/2013/09/08/100-years-after-woodrow-wilson-mark-levin-pens-a-brilliant-response/
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
October 7, 2013
Call the Senate
A letter from Catholic Vote I just got. I pass it along without comment. It speaks for itself.
Dear Friend of CV,
Even Nancy Pelosi voted for it.
Over the weekend, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 400-1 to provide our troops continued access to religious services — including Catholic priests — during the shutdown.
But the Senate has so far refused to act.
The vote happened after the General Counsel for the Archdiocese of the Military Services warned Friday that “if the government shutdown continues…there will be no Catholic priest[s] to celebrate Mass” at some military installations.
Because of a priest shortage among the active-duty military, the government has contracted with some priests to minister to Catholics in the military.
But under orders from President Obama, these contracted priests would be PROHIBITED from saying Mass, even if they volunteered, because of the shutdown.
To be clear, contracted Catholic priests are being treated the same as all “non-essential” government workers. Because they are contractors, they are not permitted to “go to work” until new funding is approved.
Yet, we already know the government shutdown is being selectively enforced for maximum political advantage.
President Obama has ordered fencing off open-air museums, blocked roads near Mt. Rushmore, and has locked veterans out of military cemeteries — while military golf courses are left open. Last week Obama shut down the Amber Alert website, but allowed Michelle Obama’s fitness website for kids to continue operating.
[Under pressure, the Obama administration turned the Amber Alert website back on this morning.]
Over the weekend, CV sounded the alarm on the threat to Catholic members of our military. A blog post on our website was read by 100,000 people within 8 hours. As of today it has logged over a quarter million viewers.
Within 24 hours, the House of Representatives announced they would hold a vote. And on Saturday, 184 Democrats joined 214 Republicans to approve legislation allowing the contract priests to say Mass on military bases.
The Senate was also in session on Saturday but adjourned without holding a vote. That means that any contract priests who showed up to say Mass yesterday were likely prevented from entering the base.
Today the Senate will open up at 2 pm ET.
Can you take five minutes and call your two Senators? Tell them the government shutdown should NOT be used to stop priests from saying Mass on military bases!
This link has the phone numbers of all 100 Senators. Find the two from your state:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?
Don’t email. Call. Let those phones ring off the hook all day.
Religious services and the Mass should not be used as pawns in a political game.
Restore the Mass on our all military bases. Now!
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
October 4, 2013
Punishing Your Enemies
An article from Fox News, which all Leftists hate, I assume because it speaks the truth, which all Leftists hate. I reprint the whole piece here without further comment:
The U.S. military has furloughed as many as 50 Catholic chaplains due to the partial suspension of government services, banning them from celebrating weekend Mass. At least one chaplain was told that if he engaged in any ministry activity, he would be subjected to disciplinary action.
“In very practical terms it means Sunday Mass won’t be offered,” Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services told me. “If someone has a baptism scheduled, it won’t be celebrated.”
The Archdiocese for the Military Services tells me the military installations impacted are served by non-active-duty priests who were hired as government contractors. As a result of a shortage of active duty Catholic chaplains, the government hires contract priests.
Broglio said some military bases have forbidden the contract priests from volunteering to celebrate Mass without pay.
“They were told they cannot function because those are contracted services and since there’s no funding they can’t do it – even if they volunteer,” he said.
John Schlageter, general counsel for the archdiocese, said any furloughed priests volunteering their services could face big trouble.
“During the shutdown, it is illegal for them to minister on base and they risk being arrested if they attempt to do so,” he said in a written statement.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
October 3, 2013
Rhadamanthus Tuxedo
The invaluable Mrs G Sharp has composed her latest, a theme song for Rhadamanthus the Sophotect of the Silver-Grey:
https://soundcloud.com/ginadonahue/rhadamanthus-tuxedo-wip
“This is the sound of a flying penguin that is also the AI of a manor in the oh-god-whatst century.
He leaves contrails.”
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
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