A clever reprise of the characters, plots and themes of his first two big successes - A Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. In essence, a criticism of revisionist history as practiced by politicians in search of cheap moral points. The modern mania of judging all of history in the light of our current values and obsessions. Cheap idealism vs. pragmatism in international relations.
There is an acceptance of human imperfection in his work that is also set against the strident moral certainties of those in pursuit of power and influence.
Must go back and reread those two earlier works.
Showing posts with label to find. Show all posts
Showing posts with label to find. Show all posts
Saturday, 23 December 2017
Monday, 14 November 2016
On the Natural History of Destruction - W. G. Sebald
Great title, but a bit misleading. The book is actually a look at the failure of post-war German literature to come to terms with the massive physical, social and cultural destruction that Germany experienced during WW 2. Each essay looks at a particular aspect of this failure to grasp and reflect upon these experiences, preferring to make as if to walk a way and pick up a new beginning, preferring to leave them forgotten or at least ignored.
The first essay outlines the immense physical destruction of many German cities, and the innumerable deaths during the bombing raids. He then discusses how there is very little in German post-war literature that actually reflects this physical destruction just in terms of accurate description.
The second essay discusses an author who was at one time popular, and the false or doubtful assertions about his place in the Nazi debacle that are found in his work. The attempt to shift blame and responsibility, the rewriting of personal history to hide things from the past or cover them over.
The third essay looks at an author, Jean Amery, who survived torture at the hands of the S.S and also Auschwitz, and who is unable or unwilling to forgive, to forget, to pardon, to move beyond resentment against history, against Germany, against the Reich. Sebald looks at the tenability, the justifiability of this stance in spite of the general publics preference for acceptance and moving on.
The fourth essay looks at the war experience as reflected in the work of a painter, Peter Weiss.
Interesting thought and reflections and certainly within the big concerns of Sebald with remembering and the inevitable loss of memory, of the past.
To find:
Peter Weiss works
Jean Amery books
The first essay outlines the immense physical destruction of many German cities, and the innumerable deaths during the bombing raids. He then discusses how there is very little in German post-war literature that actually reflects this physical destruction just in terms of accurate description.
The second essay discusses an author who was at one time popular, and the false or doubtful assertions about his place in the Nazi debacle that are found in his work. The attempt to shift blame and responsibility, the rewriting of personal history to hide things from the past or cover them over.
The third essay looks at an author, Jean Amery, who survived torture at the hands of the S.S and also Auschwitz, and who is unable or unwilling to forgive, to forget, to pardon, to move beyond resentment against history, against Germany, against the Reich. Sebald looks at the tenability, the justifiability of this stance in spite of the general publics preference for acceptance and moving on.
The fourth essay looks at the war experience as reflected in the work of a painter, Peter Weiss.
Interesting thought and reflections and certainly within the big concerns of Sebald with remembering and the inevitable loss of memory, of the past.
To find:
Peter Weiss works
Jean Amery books
Wednesday, 24 August 2016
Iran in World History - Richard Foltz
A well-written overview of the basic events and movements in the history of Iran. Just enough detail. Excellent for general interest. From 3500 BC to the present.
It also provides some insight into the long-lasting underlying forces in Iranian politics and history - the rise of clerical power, the link between the landowner class and the clerical establishment, and their resistance to political and social change.
There is also an interesting mention of Mithraism and its influence on Jews living within the Sassanian empire leading to some central concepts in the emergence of Christianity.
To find:
Hushang Golshiri - modern novelist
It also provides some insight into the long-lasting underlying forces in Iranian politics and history - the rise of clerical power, the link between the landowner class and the clerical establishment, and their resistance to political and social change.
There is also an interesting mention of Mithraism and its influence on Jews living within the Sassanian empire leading to some central concepts in the emergence of Christianity.
To find:
Hushang Golshiri - modern novelist
Monday, 14 December 2015
A Concise History of Bulgaria - R. J. Compton
A readable overview of historical Bulgaria, from the early days when it was one of the significant European cultures to the modern era where it ended as a minor player.
The modern story seems to be one of being frozen in time, sidetracked, treading water. The Ottoman period was a period of stagnation in most areas of Bulgarian life - there was some industrial development, but most of the economy and society remained static. Then there were the Balkan Wars, where the focus was on territory and borders, not development. Next there was the 1st World War on the wrong side, followed by the next war, also on the losing side. Finally, there was the the Communist Bloc, and the low quality, unsustainable industrial development of the Soviet period that did not keep pace with modern technological and economic developments. Today, there is the leap into the mysteries, vagaries and sharks of modern western capitalism. A sad story...
I am also intrigued by this issue of Macedonia - the battle amongst Balkan powers for control of the territory, and also the Macedonian's long struggle for independence. Where did this struggle come from? How did it originate?
This Macedonian obsession seems to have sidetracked Balkan regimes from more significant developments and issues for decades.
To find:
something on the Macedonian independence struggle
The modern story seems to be one of being frozen in time, sidetracked, treading water. The Ottoman period was a period of stagnation in most areas of Bulgarian life - there was some industrial development, but most of the economy and society remained static. Then there were the Balkan Wars, where the focus was on territory and borders, not development. Next there was the 1st World War on the wrong side, followed by the next war, also on the losing side. Finally, there was the the Communist Bloc, and the low quality, unsustainable industrial development of the Soviet period that did not keep pace with modern technological and economic developments. Today, there is the leap into the mysteries, vagaries and sharks of modern western capitalism. A sad story...
I am also intrigued by this issue of Macedonia - the battle amongst Balkan powers for control of the territory, and also the Macedonian's long struggle for independence. Where did this struggle come from? How did it originate?
This Macedonian obsession seems to have sidetracked Balkan regimes from more significant developments and issues for decades.
To find:
something on the Macedonian independence struggle
Saturday, 4 July 2015
The Great Catastrophe - Thomas de Waal
Thomas de Waal writes very well on the Caucasus region - his books are very well-balanced and thorough.
This book looks at the Armenian catastrophe or genocide but from a different perspective. It begins with a good summary of the events of 1915 to 1916. The rest of the book looks at what has happened within the Armenian community, between Turkey and Armenian organizations and also between Armenia and Turkey in the decades following the Catastrophe - the post WW 1 negotiations, the attacks on Turkish diplomats, in-fighting between different Armenian organizations, differences in points of view between diaspora Armenians and Armenia's government and citizens, recent diplomatic initiatives between Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Nothing earth shattering in terms of revelations, but very informative on the subject.
To Find
1. Caleb Gates, Not to Me Only
2. Rafael de Nogales, Four Years Beneath the Crescent (period acc't from Ottoman officer)
3. Grigoris Balakian, Armenian Golgotha (period acc't)
4. Michael Mann, The Dark Side of Democracy (state-building and genocide)
5. Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands (Balkan history early 20th c)
This book looks at the Armenian catastrophe or genocide but from a different perspective. It begins with a good summary of the events of 1915 to 1916. The rest of the book looks at what has happened within the Armenian community, between Turkey and Armenian organizations and also between Armenia and Turkey in the decades following the Catastrophe - the post WW 1 negotiations, the attacks on Turkish diplomats, in-fighting between different Armenian organizations, differences in points of view between diaspora Armenians and Armenia's government and citizens, recent diplomatic initiatives between Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Nothing earth shattering in terms of revelations, but very informative on the subject.
To Find
1. Caleb Gates, Not to Me Only
2. Rafael de Nogales, Four Years Beneath the Crescent (period acc't from Ottoman officer)
3. Grigoris Balakian, Armenian Golgotha (period acc't)
4. Michael Mann, The Dark Side of Democracy (state-building and genocide)
5. Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands (Balkan history early 20th c)
Thursday, 19 March 2015
Discontent and Its Civilizations - Mohsin Hamid
A collection of wide-ranging essays, from personal to political.
For me, the most interesting are the essays focusing on presenting a deeper, more nuanced picture of Pakistan, and by extension, Islam.
Underlying a lot of his thought is the idea that civilizations are an illusion. They are stories that are told, often for a political end, or from a position of weakness. He explores the idea of the complexity and multi-layerd nature of identities, (This is a theme I read about recently in another book.) This idea also links into the idea I have been mulling over lately of the possibility of living without stories, without a personal mythology - is it possible? Or can you simply change your relation to stories and mythology, seeing them less as a definition of self and the world, and more as something to play with, to take on and off, like glasses or costumes?
To Find:
Antonio Tabucchi - Sostiene Pereira (and other works)
For me, the most interesting are the essays focusing on presenting a deeper, more nuanced picture of Pakistan, and by extension, Islam.
Underlying a lot of his thought is the idea that civilizations are an illusion. They are stories that are told, often for a political end, or from a position of weakness. He explores the idea of the complexity and multi-layerd nature of identities, (This is a theme I read about recently in another book.) This idea also links into the idea I have been mulling over lately of the possibility of living without stories, without a personal mythology - is it possible? Or can you simply change your relation to stories and mythology, seeing them less as a definition of self and the world, and more as something to play with, to take on and off, like glasses or costumes?
To Find:
Antonio Tabucchi - Sostiene Pereira (and other works)
Tuesday, 2 December 2014
Not Even My Name - Thea Halo
A moving account of the life of Thea Halo's mother, a Pontic refugee from Turkey driven out in the 1920s. The story is bookended by their modern day attempt to track down and revisit her mother's native village in the mountains on the Pontic shore.
An interesting read for several reasons:
The contrast between the political experience of a group like the Pontic Greeks in the early century, and the day to day experiences both at the time of Thea's mother's childhood and of their recent return to Turkey - both experiences feature Turks as important actors but it presents such a contrast of indifferent evil on one hand, and kindness and empathy on the other. How does this happen? What does this say about a society that it can show both of these attitudes, play both of these roles? Is it something in human nature? Is it something in the nature of society - us vs. them at times, us together at times? Is it a comment on particular, personal vs. generic, theoretical experience of the Other?
What does it do to a dominant society when it has to work so hard to deny and cover up its past? To concoct alternative false narratives and broadcast them far and wide? To the point of looking foolish, ridiculous? What does it do to the inner dynamic of the society itself? Does it stunt the society's ability to reason, to come to grips with reality in other ways? Does it leave the society vulnerable to oligarchy? Evil? Again, is it human nature or political man at the heart of this? Turkey is not alone here - many societies live like this, including Canada, the US, Israel, Japan, Russia. What does it mean to live a fiction so totally?
It is hard to imagine the state of Thea's mother when she arrives in the US. It is hard to imagine the level of destitution she had been reduced to - essentially the loss of everything tangible and intangible. A life teetering on the edge of invisibility, of nonexistence. Loss of home, loss of all family, loss of all community, loss of name, loss of any material good save the clothes on her back. loss of mother tongue. No sense of belonging anywhere or to anyone. Loss of way of life, but replaced only by the experience of suffering - no knowledge of any life outside the old one.
Then picture so many of the immigrants to the US at that time, all coming from a similar level of habitual destitution or similar loss. Surely that has some effect on the shaping of a society, its understanding and its values. Surely this goes some way towards explaining the difference between the Old World and the New World in the early and middle 20th century.
Stories like this continue in the Middle East even today (and other parts of the world too) - Syria, Palestine, Iraq, eastern Turkey. Still on the same bases - ethnic and religious difference, the vulnerability of minorities. You can read some of these stories in the book recently posted, Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms.
Some references:
Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of a City, M. Housepian - Tor Ref.
The Slaughterhouse Province, Leslie Davis - Tor Ref.
The Blight of Asia, George Horton ??
Ambassador Morgenthau's Story - Henry Mortenthau - Tor. Ref.
What does it do to a dominant society when it has to work so hard to deny and cover up its past? To concoct alternative false narratives and broadcast them far and wide? To the point of looking foolish, ridiculous? What does it do to the inner dynamic of the society itself? Does it stunt the society's ability to reason, to come to grips with reality in other ways? Does it leave the society vulnerable to oligarchy? Evil? Again, is it human nature or political man at the heart of this? Turkey is not alone here - many societies live like this, including Canada, the US, Israel, Japan, Russia. What does it mean to live a fiction so totally?
It is hard to imagine the state of Thea's mother when she arrives in the US. It is hard to imagine the level of destitution she had been reduced to - essentially the loss of everything tangible and intangible. A life teetering on the edge of invisibility, of nonexistence. Loss of home, loss of all family, loss of all community, loss of name, loss of any material good save the clothes on her back. loss of mother tongue. No sense of belonging anywhere or to anyone. Loss of way of life, but replaced only by the experience of suffering - no knowledge of any life outside the old one.
Then picture so many of the immigrants to the US at that time, all coming from a similar level of habitual destitution or similar loss. Surely that has some effect on the shaping of a society, its understanding and its values. Surely this goes some way towards explaining the difference between the Old World and the New World in the early and middle 20th century.
Stories like this continue in the Middle East even today (and other parts of the world too) - Syria, Palestine, Iraq, eastern Turkey. Still on the same bases - ethnic and religious difference, the vulnerability of minorities. You can read some of these stories in the book recently posted, Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms.
Some references:
Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of a City, M. Housepian - Tor Ref.
The Slaughterhouse Province, Leslie Davis - Tor Ref.
The Blight of Asia, George Horton ??
Ambassador Morgenthau's Story - Henry Mortenthau - Tor. Ref.
Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms - Gerard Russell
Subtitled "Journeys into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East".
An interesting account of the author's exploration and contacts with several ancient religions now in the process of disappearing in their homelands. He includes some history of the region, and the religious and political conflicts as well as an historical view of the various religions themselves. His accounts of personal meetings and experiences are also interesting, although sometimes I wish he would include more of what he learned or experiences and less of the how and what of the meetings.
Religions he looks at are:
Mandeans - Iraq, especially the south and the marshes area; latter day Manicheans of sorts.
Yazidis - Turkey, Syria, Iraq
Zoroastrians
Druze - elect priestly cast; most members know almost nothing of their religion and beliefs strangely; more a community and collection of traditions for most than a religion
Samaritans - a pre-Talmudic Jewish sect; very ancient; very small - currently about 800 followers
Copts
Kalasha - Afghanistan - like the Druze in that most members know almost nothing about the religion; a priestly cast; more of a tradition and community for most
In the introduction he mentions how some of these religions offer glimpses of an older way of conceiving and living religion, and I can see that in the ones that have esoteric knowledge, initiation and a closed priestly cast. What is also interesting about them, is how hard a time they have when the followers are no longer a tight, small community but a diaspora of exiles and refugees. They don't have the open structure and generalized knowledge that allows them to continue in this sort of scattered situation.
In the Epilogue, he looks at some of these communities in the United States. He, and several people he interviews, mention how this exile from the homeland can often strengthen someone's practice and adherence as way of shoring up identity in this new foreign environment. The religion becomes more of a vehicle for maintaining social and personal identity, as well as cultural values.
A list for further reading at the end of the book.
The Mandeans of Iraq and Iran - E S Drowser
The Secret Adam - E S Drowser
Chronology of Ancient Nations - Biruni (AD 1000)
Year Amongst the Persians - Browne
The Turban for the Crown: The Islamic Revolution in Iran - Said Amir Arjomand
An interesting account of the author's exploration and contacts with several ancient religions now in the process of disappearing in their homelands. He includes some history of the region, and the religious and political conflicts as well as an historical view of the various religions themselves. His accounts of personal meetings and experiences are also interesting, although sometimes I wish he would include more of what he learned or experiences and less of the how and what of the meetings.
Religions he looks at are:
Mandeans - Iraq, especially the south and the marshes area; latter day Manicheans of sorts.
Yazidis - Turkey, Syria, Iraq
Zoroastrians
Druze - elect priestly cast; most members know almost nothing of their religion and beliefs strangely; more a community and collection of traditions for most than a religion
Samaritans - a pre-Talmudic Jewish sect; very ancient; very small - currently about 800 followers
Copts
Kalasha - Afghanistan - like the Druze in that most members know almost nothing about the religion; a priestly cast; more of a tradition and community for most
In the introduction he mentions how some of these religions offer glimpses of an older way of conceiving and living religion, and I can see that in the ones that have esoteric knowledge, initiation and a closed priestly cast. What is also interesting about them, is how hard a time they have when the followers are no longer a tight, small community but a diaspora of exiles and refugees. They don't have the open structure and generalized knowledge that allows them to continue in this sort of scattered situation.
In the Epilogue, he looks at some of these communities in the United States. He, and several people he interviews, mention how this exile from the homeland can often strengthen someone's practice and adherence as way of shoring up identity in this new foreign environment. The religion becomes more of a vehicle for maintaining social and personal identity, as well as cultural values.
A list for further reading at the end of the book.
The Mandeans of Iraq and Iran - E S Drowser
The Secret Adam - E S Drowser
Chronology of Ancient Nations - Biruni (AD 1000)
Year Amongst the Persians - Browne
The Turban for the Crown: The Islamic Revolution in Iran - Said Amir Arjomand
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