...the world should turn again to logic as the basis of life. I would only say the limit of such a cultural shift would mean that we take on Aristotle's ideal of a well-rounded structure of logic and aggressiveness - in the classical sense of course. When you examine the Organon, you have to imagine a savage world all around Greece, with the epicenter of humankind's extension into strengthening the mind as tool, developing in the genius of one man.
In Prior Analytics http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/a/aristotle/a8pra/, the concept of syllogisms - where an argument can be structured with its conclusion being found sound/valid - puts the foundation of science, philosophy and politics upon solid ground. It is pure genius on a scale that would probably be found again 2200 years later in Einstein. Where the germination of an idea, so wildly off base, could even generate a ground breaking affectation today...it puts to shame the struggle for feeble minds to express something even close on that scale.
Yet, that is what we have now. Empty thoughts blasted without either the inherent genius of a Greek philosopher, or the struggle of truly taking a thought and fully meting out its implication. Longstanding influence of such thoughts are mere fashion. Cultural basket cases are deemed newsworthy - we don't hear from the top minds any more. That's where fashion fails and the lemmings follow suit.
Take Socialism, not as a philosophical argument, but as a logic argument. It has failed so many times, in so many corners of the world, with the consistency of an atomic clock - yet, you'll find the philosophical mindset extant. It's a blatant disregard to the uses of history, all to the tune of millions upon millions of lives that socialism has taken. It's inevitable outcome creates disharmony, dictatorship and death.
The ideas behind it are groundbreaking, but they lack the truth of human nature. Pope John Paul, who is neutral to economic affairs, even remarked that, as imperfect as capitalism is, it, at least, embraces and excels the human condition. It's a generalization of a general statement, but, if you look around you in the Western World, the conditions of health, science, education and technology prove that an imperfect system can be used to the overall good - although, yes, we need to ensure that it provides for those that will fall inevitably short.
But we argue. We ignore the blatant facts of history and shoehorn our ego into the argument. But there are only very few men that will make it 2000 years into the future and be recognized for going beyond themselves and reaching closer to truth.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
...little did I know about Frank Yerby...
I have been a fan of the book The Golden Hawk (1948) since I started taking a real liking to reading when I had just turned 11. The story is thrilling - following the exploits of a privateer, Kit Gerado and his father figure, Bernardo, as they fight aristocracy, lust for riches and falling for women from Cartagena to Spain. My copy is one of the old originals from Dial Press, NY. It has a wonderful map in the front endpaper, with a cacophony of almost unrelated graphics, probably culled from other sources by the binder. It's yellowing more today, with a large bite at the bottom of its the spine. (It twas not I.)
The tale is heavily reminiscent of the swashbuckling genre from Hollywood in the late thirties/early forties. The style relies upon the baroque language of a Reader's Digest, but in a fashion that, for me, at 11, was full of overabundance of breathy bosoms and swordplay. Even today, I enjoy the exuberance of Yerby's early work. It will remind you of the romance stories you'll find in Wal Mart today: torn dresses, musculature that is described in painstaking detail...
"The dress was caught about her waist and clung like the clasp of a lover; at one and the same time it shielded and flaunted the proud upflare of her full, young breasts; from her waist it arched down like the inverted bell of a black orchid plucked in a dream garden in a season of fevers and delirium." [92]
That's just a random sample. The language is best taken in spurts, but, overall, it is a raucous tale. For a young one, it was an early form of acceptable pr0n. :) (Although I had access to a copy of Coffee, Tea or Me? http://www.amazon.com/Coffee-Uninhibited-Memoirs-Airline-Stewardesses/dp/0142003514. Man, was I a naughty kid - only knowing half of what was going on in that book.)
What struck me today, having never looked up the author - I assumed that, by the style and its exhaustive descriptions of fair-skinned women - Frank Yerby is a black author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Yerby]. My surprise was that, being it was written in '48, and my experience with black literature was a much different experience than something that I had read as a child. Baldwin, Ellison, Hughes, Walker were my primary relationship. Tooling around wikipedia, I found that Yerby was the first African-American author to become a millionaire from the pen, and the first to sell a book to Hollywood (Foxes). He was at odds with the segregationist culture of the US and finally moved on to Spain. He would eventually die there. (It must have been his passion to be there. In the Hawk, he describes Spain with such vivid asides, he must have found a place that resolved his passion.)
The anachronism is what threw me off tonight - he wrote such splendid 'costume' pieces. He even stated this was the sole purpose of entertainment. Considering the time period in which Yerby lived, that was a fascinating act.
You could pick a copy up for a few bucks at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Hawk-Frank-Yerby/dp/B001KUVJA4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314949393&sr=1-1.
The tale is heavily reminiscent of the swashbuckling genre from Hollywood in the late thirties/early forties. The style relies upon the baroque language of a Reader's Digest, but in a fashion that, for me, at 11, was full of overabundance of breathy bosoms and swordplay. Even today, I enjoy the exuberance of Yerby's early work. It will remind you of the romance stories you'll find in Wal Mart today: torn dresses, musculature that is described in painstaking detail...
"The dress was caught about her waist and clung like the clasp of a lover; at one and the same time it shielded and flaunted the proud upflare of her full, young breasts; from her waist it arched down like the inverted bell of a black orchid plucked in a dream garden in a season of fevers and delirium." [92]
That's just a random sample. The language is best taken in spurts, but, overall, it is a raucous tale. For a young one, it was an early form of acceptable pr0n. :) (Although I had access to a copy of Coffee, Tea or Me? http://www.amazon.com/Coffee-Uninhibited-Memoirs-Airline-Stewardesses/dp/0142003514. Man, was I a naughty kid - only knowing half of what was going on in that book.)
What struck me today, having never looked up the author - I assumed that, by the style and its exhaustive descriptions of fair-skinned women - Frank Yerby is a black author [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Yerby]. My surprise was that, being it was written in '48, and my experience with black literature was a much different experience than something that I had read as a child. Baldwin, Ellison, Hughes, Walker were my primary relationship. Tooling around wikipedia, I found that Yerby was the first African-American author to become a millionaire from the pen, and the first to sell a book to Hollywood (Foxes). He was at odds with the segregationist culture of the US and finally moved on to Spain. He would eventually die there. (It must have been his passion to be there. In the Hawk, he describes Spain with such vivid asides, he must have found a place that resolved his passion.)
The anachronism is what threw me off tonight - he wrote such splendid 'costume' pieces. He even stated this was the sole purpose of entertainment. Considering the time period in which Yerby lived, that was a fascinating act.
You could pick a copy up for a few bucks at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Hawk-Frank-Yerby/dp/B001KUVJA4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314949393&sr=1-1.
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