[lit-ideas] The Glitter and the Gold
- From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 21:52:12 -0600
JL:
>>And I don't think rhyme is everything.
No, there's also reason, but rhyming's fun; reason, a bother -- so why bother?
>>You have not addressed the slightly serious question
as to whether 'Eros' is the personification of a passion (love), or its
deification.<<
Slightly serious? Sir, either you are serious or you are not. I must know
which for I do not entertain frivolous questions. Frivolity has been the
downfall of many a noble mind. Imagine had the Spartans taken up comedy
writing instead of the sword, oh, how so much poorer our planet would be.
Seriousness is like Godliness except more so. God Himself had to take lessons
in seriousness. The Egyptians thought God was just joking when he turned the
waters into blood -- like they hadn't seen that old trick before? Then came
the frogs, gnats and flies -- interesting, but no show stoppers. The frog
plague was just plain funny. Then came sick livestock, get serious! Festering
boils -- ach, that's disgusting. Then hail. Hail? Hell, they'd see all that
before. So send in the locusts, followed by days of darkness. Honestly, this
was getting as silly as the Three Stooges. And finally God got serious and
killed the first born -- well, got their attention. Serious is a dead baby.
So tell me. are you serious or not?
Mike Geary
Memphis
Geary:
>JL's translation of the conversation he unearthed of Gurkha soldiers proves my
>thesis
>I wish I had had this quote for my book. It is proof positive of the
>brilliance of my
>position: "Shut up."
I'm not sure I want to shut up. I want to invoke the voice of those Ghurkas for
various motives:
Argentina was regarded as 'third world', and Reagan supported UK during the
Falklands War.
Yet, the money from Reagan and other 'first-world' countries (like, well,
Italy's Liguria) went
to the pockets of those mercenaries, the Ghurkas -- fourth world if you ask me.
The Royal Marines and other first-world troops were involved in the Falklands
War but only
nominally. When it come to the grit of the battle, it was left to the hands of
the mercenaries
like the Ghurkas.
Of course, they won't feature large in the history of "Wars We Won", by UK.
It's also
surprising that the wonderful battles they _lost_ in their pathetic attempt to
gain the
River Plate (1805 and 1806, under Beresford and Whitelock, as every Argentine
schoolboy
knows) never feature in any "History of England" worth its name.
So I won't shut up.
And I don't think rhyme is everything. You have not addressed the slightly
serious question
as to whether 'Eros' is the personification of a passion (love), or its
deification.
I was trying to be witty, but I actually don't have an answer and was curious.
"Eros" being
an abstract noun, it possibly falls under 'deification', but, my point was that
as far as
representational art is concerned, it has to be reprsented as a _person_,
except for that
silly pair of wings.
Alas, the proportions of Polykleitus (the Kanon) don't apply to underage boys:
their heads
always too big for the body, and so I dislike most representations of Eros,
while some Americans
find them 'cute'.
(For your knowledge, I also submit to the Kanon (The Doruphoros) where it was
head: 1/8, and dislike the proportions
brought up by Lysippus, head: 1/7 (as in Apoxoimenos -- the Strigil-Scraper).
Of course the proportions of a ghurka are not even _classic_!
The subject matter is the title of the Countess of Marlborough's biography:
Consuelo Vanderbilt. She disliked the Brits quite a bit. On her arrival to
Blenheim -- one of the best places for outdoor statuaries, even now -- she was
received by,
"You don't look or sound like an American at all".
In her brilliant memoirs ('gold' -- like silence; hardly the glitter) she
medidates: "Little did those Brits know how hurtful I found those comments".
Cheers,
JL Speranza
Villa Speranza, Bordighera and
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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JL:
>>And I don't think rhyme is everything.
No, there's also reason, but rhyming's fun; reason, a bother -- so why bother?
>>You have not addressed the slightly serious question
as to whether 'Eros' is the personification of a passion (love), or its
deification.<<
Slightly serious? Sir, either you are serious or you are not. I must know
which for I do not entertain frivolous questions. Frivolity has been the
downfall of many a noble mind. Imagine had the Spartans taken up comedy
writing instead of the sword, oh, how so much poorer our planet would be.
Seriousness is like Godliness except more so. God Himself had to take lessons
in seriousness. The Egyptians thought God was just joking when he turned the
waters into blood -- like they hadn't seen that old trick before? Then came
the frogs, gnats and flies -- interesting, but no show stoppers. The frog
plague was just plain funny. Then came sick livestock, get serious! Festering
boils -- ach, that's disgusting. Then hail. Hail? Hell, they'd see all that
before. So send in the locusts, followed by days of darkness. Honestly, this
was getting as silly as the Three Stooges. And finally God got serious and
killed the first born -- well, got their attention. Serious is a dead baby.
So tell me. are you serious or not?
Mike Geary
Memphis
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