St. Augustine and the Shelf of Pretension

St. Augustine by Botticelli

Part One: Patrick’s Confession
Exciting event today – I can take Augustine’s Confessions off the Shelf of Pretension. The Shelf of Pretension, for the uninitiated, is the place where you prominently display impressive books you want people to think that you have read. It could also be the place where you put all your pretty books, regardless of whether you have read them or not. People who love books – you know what I’m talking about. You’ve got your own Dewey Decimal System for aesthetic bookshelves. You can admit it. We’re all friends here. Do you have all your nautical books grouped together? The Odyssey, Robinson Crusoe, Captains Courageous, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? …..Perhaps I’ve said too much…

Inspired by Augustine’s Confessions, I here reveal the books which sit prominently on my living room bookshelf that I have not read, but would like people to think I have read:
Don Quixote – Cervantes
Les Miserables (unabridged) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare – Francis Bacon (that’s a little joke for the literature/theater majors/minors)
And of course, War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy

There, I feel a little better. You should also know that I do aspire to read those books, and many more besides. Once I finished school, I realized the joy that comes with reading what you want to read instead of what you have to read.

Once I have read those books, I’m sure they’ll still be on the shelf. They are the pretty books, after all. I’ll have to think of a new shelf name then. Perhaps the Shelf of Literary Snobbery.
What’s on your Shelf of Pretension? Confess!

Part Two: Augustine’s Confessions
I won’t do the three-fold review which I like to do, for a couple of reasons. One, I was the first person to read the copy I have, so there’s no archeological data to uncover there. Second, I don’t really have anything interesting to say about the aesthetic experience of the book – except that I hate end notes. If you (the author) have a comment, put it on the same page!

Instead, here’s some random quotes and thoughts that stuck out to me:
“It is not the infant’s will that is harmless, but the weakness of infant limbs.” – In other words, we think babies are innocent mostly because they can’t reach things or tell us what they think.

“Without You, what am I to myself but the leader of my own destruction? Let the strong and mighty laugh us to scorn, and let us, the weak and needy, confess ourselves to You.”

“Unless we could weep into Your ears, no trace of hope would remain for us.”

“Blessed is the man who loves You, and his friend in You, and his enemy for Your sake.”

“I had learned from You that nothing should be held true merely because it is eloquently expressed, nor false because its signs sound harsh upon the lips.”

“Manners that I did not want for myself as a student I was forced to endure in others when I became a teacher.”

“…They would assert that the New Testament writings were falsified by some unknown persons…however, they themselves did not produce any uncorrupted copies.”

“I was preparing to make an address…in it I would tell many a lie, and for my lies I would be applauded by men who knew that I was lying.”

“Caught fast in a disease of the flesh with its deadly sweetness, I dragged along my chains and was fearful of being loosed from them.”

“I held that the higher things are indeed better than the lower, but that all things together are better than the higher things alone.”

The famous – “Give me chastity and continence, but not yet!”

“Just as fawning friends pervert us, so also quarrelsome enemies often correct us.”

“Your best servant is he who looks not so much to hear from you what he wants to hear, but rather to want what he hears from You.”

There’s a chapter toward the end titled “Had I Been Moses.” I love it. I would read a book with that title.

“Too late have I loved You, O Beauty so ancient and so new, too late have I loved You!”

“I can find no safe place for my soul except in You. In You may no part of me ever depart. Sometimes You admit me in my innermost being into a most extraordinary affection, mounting within me to an indescribable sweetness. If this is perfected in me, it will be something, I know not what, that will not belong to this life.”

And this one sums up the book nicely:
“What thing within me could be hidden from you, even if I would not confess it to You? I would be hiding You from myself, and not myself from You.”

Trivia:
Augustine’s father was named Patricius (the Latin form of my name!)

Augustine’s feast day is August 28 (my birthday!)

Augustine was bishop in a town that shares a name with my favorite animal!

Augustine is the patron saint of printers, theologians, and Tucson, Arizona.

Three Variations on a Book Review: “John Adams” by David McCullough

I. As a Work of History
McCullough’s biography is absolutely captivating. The readability of the book is wonderful, especially considering the sheer number of sources, including thousands of letters, which form his bibliography.

I feel I received a true sense of John Adams’ life and who he was as a person – his values, his faults, and his greatest loves. To have focused on his accomplishments would have been enough – Massachusetts delegate to the First and Second Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence (and most vocal proponent of it), the man who recommended George Washington as commander of the Continental army, ambassador to France, first U.S. ambassador to Holland, the first U.S. ambassador to Great Britain(!), author of the Massachusetts constitution (in which his making the judiciary separate from the other branches of government greatly influenced the U.S. constitution), first Vice-President of the U.S., second President of the U.S., the man who appointed John Marshall to the Supreme Court, and much more – but McCullough uses the words of his own letters to great effect to show John Adams as devoted patriot, husband, father, and friend.

The deeply held principles of John Adams – honesty, devout faith, industry, frugality, simplicity, and the equal rights of all - emerge clearly in the way he dealt with the trying circumstances of his life. One example - he was the defense attorney for the British soldiers of the Boston Massacre when it was incredibly unpopular to do so, because he believed them to be innocent. His principles played out also in the way he dealt with the other great people who lived at the time. He never complained of being outshone by Washington. He remained cordial to Thomas Jefferson even during their fiercest disagreements, and renewed their friendship when their political lives were over. Most remarkably, he never said a negative thing (in public) about any of his political enemies – even Alexander Hamilton, who, in addition to being an ardent patriot and financial genius, was also apparently a world-class jackass, stabbing nearly everyone in the back at some point or another.

McCullough also does an excellent job of keeping Abigail Adams a central figure in the book, as she was a central figure in Johns’ life. No less a patriot, she was his ballast, his dearest friend – and not afraid to speak her mind. (If Adams was hesitant to unload on Thomas Jefferson when he deserved it, Abigail was not). My favorite anecdote was her sponsorship of a free black boy to a school in Philadelphia. When the other boys (all white) threatened to refuse to attend, she had them sent to her for a little talk. The boys all went to school together after that.

This book was truly inspiring, and deeply moved me with its account of Adams’ death (on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence – the same day Thomas Jefferson died). I say with honesty that John Adams’ life story made me proud to be an American.

II. As a Historical Artifact
I found this book in a lending-library bookshelf at a local Vietnamese restaurant which is frequented by Baylor students. The previous owner of the book wrote his name on the inside cover. Apart from that, let’s see what other evidence of his time with this book is left to us:

Page 19 – In describing Adams’ love of reading and books, McCullough lists some of his most read authors. The previous owner underlined their names – Cicero, Tacitus, Plato, Thucydides, Shakespeare, Swift, and Cervantes – and put two large asterisks beside the paragraph in blue ink pen.

Possible explanations: the previous owner, perhaps a history major, was marking a “to read” list.

Page 20 – In a passage on Adams’ character, McCullough quotes Adams’ lifelong friend and fellow Declaration signer Dr. Benjamin Rush – “He was a stranger to dissimulation.” The previous owner underlined the last word, and put a blue arrow in the margin.

Possible explanations: The previous owner found this a memorable phrase, useful for describing Adams at a glance – OR – did not know the meaning of the word “dissimulation,” and meant to look it up. (It means “speaking or acting with the intent to deceive.”)

Page 39 – Brackets placed around another passage describing Adams’ reading while at Harvard – in this case, Milton, Virgil, Voltaire, and Viscount Bolingbroke.

Page 41 – Brackets around this passage: “Increasingly, however, the subject uppermost in mind was himself, as waves of loneliness, feelings of abject disappointment over his circumstances, dissatisfaction with his own nature, seemed at times nearly to overwhelm him. Something of the spirit of the old Puritans took hold. By writing only to himself, for himself…he could thus improve himself.”

And further down the page, brackets on this diary quote:
“I will strive with all my soul to be something more than persons who have had less advantages than myself.”

Possible explanation: This passage resonated with the previous owner – it is a common sentiment of college students - OR - he found it particularly important in tracing the development of Adams’ life goals.

The only other direct evidence of the previous owner is a straight line on page 42 in the margin where Adams describes his main fault as pride, and an underline further down the page where Adams said the greatest gift of God was an inquiring mind.

Another piece of indirect evidence is some strange smudges on page 51, which might be a shoe-print.

My best guess: An ambitious history student, hearing good reviews of this book, picked it up, and found early inspiration in the first 40 pages. Unknown circumstances forced the book into disuse, at one point to such an extent that it was in a footpath out of the bedroom. Taking pity on the book, the student dropped it off at the Vietnamese restaurant, hoping some other soul with more time on their hands would find it.

III. As an Aesthetic Experience
The book came without a book jacket, which was perfect. I have to store book jackets out of the way while I am reading a book, and then put them back on later. A book should feel like one solid piece in your hand.

Speaking of solid, the book was a 700-or-so page hardback. Nothing to be trifled with. Its weight corresponded very well to the important events and powerful ides contained within.

Like the previous McCullough book I had read (the excellent “1776”), the pages are cut uneven on the side. The effect gives the book a lived-in look that functions very well for a work of history. I give the experience an A+ for visual and tactile input.

Miscellaneous:
1. I haven't seen the HBO miniseries with Paul Giamati as John and Laura Linney as Abigail - Netflix here I come.

2. John Adams appears on the $2 bill on the back side, in a reproduction of John Trumbull’s painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He stands dead center, under the "A" in "States." Appropriately, the face side of the $2 bill features – Thomas Jefferson.



3. I found this quote by Adams’ to Benjamin Rush after losing his second-term election to Jefferson (who he had every right to be angry with) a wise word for any time, but especially this time in American history:

“I think instead of opposing systematically any administration, running down their characters and opposing all their measures, right or wrong, we ought to support every administration as far as we can in justice.”

Three Variations on a Book Review: Moby Dick

The Book it Took Six Years to Read:
I started reading Moby Dick in May of 2002. Jeni and I went on a four day camping trip, and during the lazy afternoons I would read. I got to chapter 54 – not quote halfway through – and life intervened. Summer classes started up, and Moby Dick got placed on the nightstand. When we moved, it went back with the rest of the books. But it was always there – lurking beneath the surface, as it were. I am not compulsive about a lot of things – but I hate not finishing books. So, when I found myself this fall wondering “What to read next?”- I decided it was time to jump back in. Perhaps it was because this book took so long to read, but I found myself very self-aware as I was reading it. The following are three aspects of the experience.

I. As a Work of Literature:
Herman Melville’s most famous work certainly deserves its place in the pantheon of great American literature. From the iconic opening – “Call me Ishmael.” – to the haunting closing image of a coffin as a life-buoy, and in between, the unfolding story of one man’s obsession with wreaking vengeance on what is essentially a force of nature – it is a unique and powerful epic. Apart from utilitarian words like “whale” and “ship,” “monomaniac” may be the most often used word in the novel, which says something.

One thing I was not expecting was just how slowly the story actually unfolds once the ship is loaded and Ahab makes his delayed appearance. Melville has a lot to say about whales, and whaling. He waxes philosophical for pages at a time, and spends even more ink on numerous chapters covering a thorough description of the various technical details of whaling, on the classification and anatomy of whales, the depiction of whales in art through history, and more. There are as many interludes for these kind of topics as there are straightforward narrative. The first part of the book is mainly concerned with the developing friendship between Ishmael (whose name means “God Hears Me” for all the Bible nerds out there) and Queequeg, but this part of the story essentially ends by the middle of the book. It is subsumed under Ahab’s internal monologue, his conflict with the first mate Starbuck, and the various interludes. Perhaps this was intentional on Melville’s part – once Ahab enters the picture, other relationships are important only as they revolve around him and effect his will.

The best of the interlude-style chapters is “The Whiteness of the Whale,” in which Melville examines the various meanings of the color white and its postive and negative connotations in world culture. This chapter succeeds better than some other such interludes, I think, because it applies directly to the story at hand, explaining why this aspect of the titular whale inspires terror in otherwise courageous whalemen. Many other such interludes are information for information’s sake, and while interesting as such, add nothing purposeful to the ongoing drama. The final three chapters detailing the actual combat with Moby Dick seem spare in comparison to some the ancillary information.

Finally, I was often impressed with Melville’s turns of phrase – his ability to poetically express an idea. I listed several examples below.

II. As a Historical Artifact:
I was not the first person to read the copy I had. It is a paperback edition, and one of a series of classics of literature that my wife got from someone, at sometime. The previous reader was armed with a blue ink pen, and like me, was an underliner. The previous reader also had an appreciation for poetic and well-expressed sentences. Our perspectives differed on what to underline, but I could generally see the value in their choices, and occasionally found myself not having to underline – for my predecessor had gone before. Only very rarely did I think, “Why did they underline that?”

Occasionally, instead of underlining, the previous reader would put a blue check beside a paragraph – presumably to indicate the whole paragraph was good. And then there were other times the blue lines would form a “ } ” on the side of the page to indicate “good paragraph.” I appreciated the parentheses a lot more than the check – it reminded me too much of grading, and made me wonder if the previous reader was a teacher – possibly my wife’s grandmother.

The only other facts I could link to the previous reader was that their last underlinings came at page 362, more than 80 pages before the end of the book. I found several more passages worthy of underling from there. Did the previous reader lose interest? The chapter was “The Fossil Whale” – one of those interludes, this time about the whale’s skeleton. And the underlining was off – spaced out over the page and over the paragraph, rather than solid lines under sentences. Did they finish the book? There is no way to know…

III. As an Aesthetic Experience:
Ideally, reading a book is a physical experience, as well as a mental one. There is something very important in the tangible nature of holding a book in your hands, turning the pages, even catching a whiff of the pages from time to time. There is a dynamic to how the book looks and feels that enhances the experience. For example, if a book has a book jacket, I have to take it off. It’s distracting.

My copy of Moby Dick started off well. The paperback edition I have was published in 1964, so the pages had a lovely yellow tinge. Both the front and back cover had various notches and creases, and the spine was quite wrinkled. It gave the impression of that this was a relic of a bygone era – an artifact preserved, or saved from a wreck because of its meaning and import. It gave an ancient feel to the experience.

As I retread my steps to the middle of the book, though, I noticed that the spine of the paper cover was peeling away the further I went through the book. If I opened only the front cover it would fall backward slightly from the body of the book. Strangely, this too, I enjoyed. It would require me to be very careful with the book – to always hold it with two hands. But I knew that the situation was ultimately hopeless. That the further I read the more the cover would separate. As Ahab and his crew in the Peqoud approached its final fate, so too would the book not make it through this experience alive. It was wonderful parallel fate.

At about ¾ through the book, disaster struck. For the briefest of moments, I held the book with one hand, and it nearly split in half. There was a tearing sound, and in the exact middle of the book – page 249 “The Whale as a Dish” – the barest shred of paper held the book together. I resolved to be even more careful, and proceeded on. After I finished the book, I set it down and surveyed the final damage. It is now two books. The cover never entirely separated, and is still attached to back half. The introduction, the title page, the table of contents, and page 247/248 (the last page of the chapter “Stubb’s Supper”) are now free floating pages.

So, what to do with a ruined book? It seems wrong just to put it in the trash can. This book has been through a great deal, and deserves a glorious end. If I lived anywhere near the ocean, I might deposit it there. If I had a whale oil lamp, I’d burn it. I am open to suggestion.

In Other Media:

I highly recommend John Huston’s “Moby Dick" from 1956. Gregory Peck as Ahab, Orson Welles as Father Mapple. Screenplay by Ray Bradbury(!). You can watch it here.

There was also a TV movie made with Patrick Stewart as Ahab, and Gregory Peck as Father Mapple. I haven’t seen it, so you’re on your own.

If you go to YouTube and search “Moby Dick”, you’ll get several scenes from both the above, the 1956 trailer, and a LOT of people attempting the guitar and drum solo titled “Moby Dick” by Led Zeppelin.

Quotes:
“Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian.”

On the chapel pulpit being shaped like a ship’s bow:
“What could be more full of meaning? – for the pulpit is ever this earth’s foremost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads the world. From thence it is the storm of God’s quick wrath is first descried, and the bow must bear the earliest brunt. From thence it is the God of breezes fair of foul is first invoked for favorable winds. Yes the world’s a ship on its passage out, and the pulpit is its prow.”

“Immortality is but ubiquity in time.”

I liked this warning to future interpreters:
“So ignorant are most landsmen of some of the plainest and most palpable wonders of the world, that without some hints touching the plain facts, historical and otherwise, of the fishery, they might scout at Moby Dick as monstrous fable, or still worse and more detestable, a hideous and intolerable allegory.”
- so, whatever else it may be, Moby Dick is primarily a novel about killing a whale.

“There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method.”

“What has the whale to say? Seldom have I known any profound being that had anything to say to this world, unless forced to stammer out something by way of getting a living.”

“Real strength never impairs beauty or harmony, but it often bestows it; and in everything imposingly beautiful, strength has much to do with the magic.”

“Hereby perhaps Stubb indirectly hinted, that though man loved his fellow, man is a money-making animal, which propensity too often interferes with his benevolence.”

“There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness.”

“To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.”

Ahab himself has some near-Shakespearean lines, on a variety of topics:

Ahab on Leadership:
“Look ye, the only real owner of anything is its commander; and hark ye, my conscience is in this ship’s keel – On deck!”

“There is one God who is Lord over the earth, and one Captain that is lord over the Pequod – On deck!”

“Fool! I am Fates’ lieutenant; I act under orders. Look thou, underling, that thou obeyest mine!”

“Ahab never thinks; he only feels – to think’s audacity. God only has that right and privilege.”

Ahab on Human Interaction:
“Cursed be that mortal inter-indebtedness which will not do away with ledgers. I would be as free as air; and I’m down in the whole world’s books.”

“In no Paradise myself, I am impatient of all misery in others that is not mad.”

Ahab on a Certain White Whale:
“God hunt us all if we do not hunt Moby Dick to his death!”

“I’ll ten times girdle the unmeasured globe; yea and dive straight through it, but I’ll slay him yet!”

“Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee!”