Into the Archive: Coming Thick and Fast

The Ring of the Nibelung (Penguin Clothbound Classics) Hardcover

by Richard Wagner (Author), & 2 more
The scale and grandeur of Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung has no precedent and no successor. It preoccupied Wagner for much of his adult life and revolutionized the nature of opera, the orchestra, the demands on singers and on the audience itself. The four operas—The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried,and Twilight of the Gods—are complete worlds, conjuring up extraordinary mythological landscapes through sound as much as staging. Wagner wrote the entire libretto before embarking on the music. Discarding the grand choruses and bravura duets central to most operas, he used the largest musical forces in the context often of only a handful of singers on stage. The words were essential: he was telling a story and making an argument in a way that required absolute attention to what was said. The libretto for The Ring lies at the heart of nineteenth century culture. It is in itself a work of power and grandeur, and it had an incalculable effect on European and specifically German culture. John Deathridge’s superb new translation, with notes and a fascinating introduction, is essential for anyone who wishes to fully engage with one of the great musical experiences. (750 Pages)

The Saga of the Volsungs (Penguin Classics) Paperback

by Jesse L. Byock (Author, Translator), Anonymous (Author)

Based on Viking Age poems and composed in thirteenth-century Iceland, The Saga of the Volsungs combines mythology, legend, and sheer human drama in telling of the heroic deeds of Sigurd the dragon slayer, who acquires runic knowledge from one of Odin's Valkyries. Yet the saga is set in a very human world, incorporating oral memories of the fourth and fifth centuries, when Attila the Hun and other warriors fought on the northern frontiers of the Roman empire. In his illuminating Introduction Jesse L. Byock links the historical Huns, Burgundians, and Goths with the extraordinary events of this Icelandic saga. With its ill-fated Rhinegold, the sword reforged, and the magic ring of power, the saga resembles the Nibelungenlied and has been a primary source for such fantasy writers as J. R. R. Tolkien and for Richard Wagner's Ring cycle. (145 Pages)

The Tain (Penguin Classics) Paperback

by Ciaran Carson (Translator, Introduction)

The Tain Bo Cualinge, centrepiece of the eighth-century Ulster cycle of heroic tales, is Ireland's great epic, on par with Beowulf and The Aeneid. The story of the emergence of a hero, a paean to the Irish landscape, and a bawdy and contentious marital farce, The Tain tells of a great cattle-raid, the invasion of Ulster by the armies of Medb and Ailill, Queen and King of Connacht, and their allies, seeking to carry off the great Brown Bull of Cualige. The hero of the tale is Cuchulainn, the Hound of Ulster, who resists the invaders single-handed while Ulster's warriors lie sick. In its first translation in forty years, Ciaran Carson brings this seminal work of Irish literature fully to life, capturing all of its visceral power in what acclaimed poets Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon individually called one of the best books of the year. (223 Pages)

These came in today in one fell load. I'm glad they're here, but it will be some time before I can turn my attention to them fully. The Ring of the Nibelung includes the original German with the English translation on the facing page. Hardbacked and bookmarked with plenty of notes; there is also an artbook that I want that has all the Arthur Rackham illustrations. The Saga of the Volsungs joins my growing collection of Norse Sagas, and about time. It may be the most culturally significant of them all. This copy of The Tain (must resist thinking The Taint) will be the first place I will ever read the tale in any full form. What will that be like? I wonder.

Into the Archive: Don Quixote

Well, I said I was putting Don Quixote on the Wish List, and today it is here. This is perhaps the fattest Penguin classic I have, 982 pages with a further 40 pages of notes. I had to have a copy. Whether you classify it as an anti-Romance novel or deep-state Romance novel, it is one of the pillars of literature, the so-called ‘First Novel’ of the Western canon.

It is not, of course, my first copy of Don Quixote. For many years I had this paperback

And briefly this hardback edition (originally in Mike’s library but now, I believe, belonging to John):

When I realized I no longer owned an edition I knew I had to get one, though I had never completely read either copy when I had them. Incidents within the tale are so well-known it seems almost superfluous: the Don’s capturing a barber’s basin to use as a helmet, his tilting at windmills (a phrase that has entered common parlance), Sancho Panza being tossed in a blanket, Quixote’s imaginary ‘lady fair’ Dulcinea, his bony nag of a horse Rocinante, his mistaking an inn for a castle and freeing criminals whom he believes are unjustly imprisoned and oppressed (they proceed to rob him and Sancho), and his final renunciation of his madness and his death.

Most of these incidents occur in the earlier and better-known parts of the book. The tale revels in the wordy digressions familiar in older books, such as Gargantua and Pantagruel or Le Morte D’Arthur, which delighted readers of the time but are not as suited to modern attention spans and ‘snappy’ narrative. Still, the story persists as a fable throughout the culture, referenced and retold time and again. Here are just a few such artifacts that I own.

From the stage play Man of La Mancha:

G. K. Chesterton’s The Return of Don Quixote:

They Might Be Giants ("They look like windmills, but they might be giants."):

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote:

This poster Mike had:

This leather bottle Kenny gave me:

This birthday card John made me:

A short story by Jorge Luis Borges:

Wideo Wednesday: Family Classic Adventures

When I was a very small child (say from 1968 – 1973) we were still feeling the last throes of Great Society thinking. Part of that trend was adapting cultural touchstones, classics if you will, for the youngest generation to imbibe and grow accustomed to. Part of this was fear that the new generation absorbed most of its culture through television. A cartoon show, adventurous, ‘groovy’, and simplified, might just act as breadcrumbs leading to a literary experience. It’s easier to adapt a familiar tale already out of copyright than make up something wholesale. And it can be peddled as ‘educational’.

All I’ve got to say is that somehow in my case it worked.  I don’t remember watching all of those series of classics (Mr. Magoo was a bit early for me) but they were all … around. In the air, as it were. Many of these links lead to playlists of the whole series.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yExA2Ru8xQM&list=PLCPrPoHZC8w35i5QQBh2kLnNhc_tJBsT4&index=1

New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwMYLKLmrUU&list=PLLhOnau-tupTdOXJntRqMMpYioWNCrP4T&index=1

The Reluctant Dragon and Mr. Toad Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTZpE7itQdg&list=PLV4Ztn9euy7QmW1zfNl-zsfe9f8GZwiCk

Dr. Dolittle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMn6XwsBLjk&list=PLV4Ztn9euy7RWCs-ngBQs_zNFcr5oLK0v

The Three Musketeers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kulroxzLdwg&list=PLZs0gQed9tMTCwdqInLAjsrKrfQ0thU_R&index=1

The Arabian Knights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlbDInLkbto&list=PLLhOnau-tupSRAZ56jFjRhpftdc4VTfB2&index=4

Arthur! And His Square Knights of the Round Table

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSQfhZqqQCo&list=PL7LRBNZJp25TmLqCeVbMHyzcrRAtVZrVZ

Around the World in Eighty Days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8w_EoZM5Gw

Around the World in 79 Days (a segment of The Cattanooga Cats show)

Anthology Series:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY5Ysdi5BkGHh5XRaHTYfTwPxxNArmQD

Rankin/Bass Festival of Family Classics (1972-1973)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLso8XPrbIE1xVtYniH6MXvtfM4KA63BqK

The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo (1964)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhkuywRfNZYCfuFyuISm0rhiAMKxY4ADB

CBS Famous Classic Tales (1970 - 1984)

 

Daily Morning Prayers

Every morning I pray these prayers, usually in this order. When I started, I thought I would never be able to remember them all. Though it seems quite a lot in print, I can usually finish them in fifteen minutes or so, and they often help impel me through morning necessities (getting up, dressing, etc.). I blush when I remember that when I officiated over my brother Kenny’s wedding I did not even know the Lord’s Prayer by heart. Some prayers end with Amen because we assert the truth of their statements; petitionary (asking or pleading) prayers like the Lord's Prayer or an Act of Contrition do not.

The Sign of the Cross

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Glory Be (Doxology)

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is mow, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Our Father (Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth.

Act of Contrition

My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. In his name, my God, have mercy.

Act of Faith

O my God, I firmly believe
that you are one God in three divine Persons,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I believe that your divine Son became man
and died for our sins and that he will come
to judge the living and the dead. Amen.

Act of Hope

O My God, relying on your infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of your grace. and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.

Act of Love

O my God, I love you above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because you are all good and worthy of all my love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of you. I forgive all who have injured me, and I ask pardon of all whom I have injured. Amen.

Nicene Creed

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Prayer to St. Michael

St. Michael the Archangel, 
defend us in battle. 
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. 
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, 
and do thou, 
O Prince of the heavenly hosts, 
by the power of God, 
thrust into hell Satan, 
and all the evil spirits, 
who prowl about the world 
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Apostle’s Creed

I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.

Amen.

Morning Prayer

Dear God, as I begin this day, keep me in your love and care. Help me to live as your child today. Bless me, my family, and my friends in all we do. Keep us close to you. Amen.

 

June 2020: What Is So Rare as a Day in June?

6/5/2020: Up a 5:30 AM again. I guess I’m on summer hours now. Prayers. Bible. Dressed. Planning to go for Lotto and DG later; want Dobie pad, sweetener, cake mix, frosting, and cookies. Meanwhile, some BI [Book Inventory]. My intention has been and is to handle each book, not just look at them on a shelf.

So I left at near 7:35 AM which was just about the perfect time, got a ticket, and went to D[ollar] G[eneral], where I got a call from Kam asking about breakfast around 8:15 AM; it seems Susan had already gone to work. After that I added 2 apple pies to my list; I still have $2. Came home and made Kam a couple of sandwiches of toast with turkey and cheese and took out the last chicken soup to heat for my breakfast. I was totally wiped out and after eating the soup and fell into a coma-like nap until 12:30 PM, when I continued with the BI, most of it proofreading what I already had. At 2 PM I had to start supper (fried potatoes take a long time on a hotplate) and wasn’t done until 5:30 PM. Took my fish and taters in. After all day, I only catalogued 10 books. It’s now a little after 7 PM; I’m going to count my tramp this morning as more than all my turns (it is!) and go on to the Rosary.

Kam came in and we watched “The Day the Earth Froze” until about 10 PM; the summer MST3K’s have officially started.

 

6/6/2020: Prayers, Bible, Medicine. Went out about 7 AM for my turns and photographed a huge spider out by the cedar tree out front. Cookies for breakfast, then later, about 10 AM, had 5 boiled bratwursts that Susan had told me needed to be eaten up. Went all day working on BI with a strange continuous intensity; today it was many Scholastic books, so more early memories. I stop and do research and add whether there are connected books that I don’t have and put things in chronological context. 

“Anatomy of a Murder” playing in the background during the afternoon. About 5 PM I went in to get a ramen and a couple of eggs, and they were just starting to eat Long John Silvers, which Kam and I had just been talking about a few days ago, about how we hadn’t had any for a while. Just as I was about to eat my ramen, Andy comes in with a plate with a little piece of fish, one big fat shrimp, 4 hushpuppies, and a lot of fries and crumblies, so yummy! As I continue with the BI, Svengoolie and “Bride of Frankenstein” on in the background.

 Finish BI for the day about 9 PM, then Rosary and bed.

 

6/7/2020: Up at 2:30 AM, when something struck me lightly on my right temple (probably a cockroach). I scrambled awake and searched my bed but saw nothing, but I was totally awake. Got up and caught up yesterday’s diary (which I had neglected for BI) then started in on Peanuts books (“Happiness” books and animation ‘novelizations’).

 Watched the St. James mass. Worked on BI. Went in at 10 AM to bake cake and they were just eating breakfast. Went in at noon to frost cake and got a ramen and eggs. Worked on BI until I finished the Kitchen Shelves and posted on FK[Finder’s Keep]. Walked my turns then made dip-dips for the family. Came in and prayed rosary at 7:30 PM. 

 

6/8/2020: Did all the usual Monday things: Prayers, Bible, medicine, turns [circling walks], wash, feed Kam, make chicken salad and boiled eggs, made broccoli salad, made supper of couscous and fish patties, cleaned up, made Kam grilled cheese, Rosary, posted, listened to GGACP, Daily Wire, House, and Flintstones, but mainly I worked on the BOOK INVENTORY, mostly the kid books in the clock shelves. John wrote me back some e-mails; he sounds depressed still, and with the state of the world (riots, fires, and COVID) who can blame him? I told him that all of my ‘juice’ is being expended on the BI right now; it is quite compulsive. Almost 11 PM. Must try to sleep. Posted on POB after more than a week.

 

6/9/2020: Aiyee. Started at 5 AM. Prayers Bible and Rosary, then began BI with Cabell books. At 7 AM did my turns. At 9 AM started the chicken soup and had eggs for breakfast. Read Mark Twain “Following the Equator”. 

At 11 stopped soup and went in. Came in at 12:30 PM and picked chicken, had lunch. More BI. Went in at 3:30 PM and started sausage, cabbage, and taters. Came in and laid down, then ate. About 6 PM Andy came and asked if I had seen Kiki [one of the cats] today, and I realized I had not. Started in on Gaiman books.

When I went out for my turns at 7 PM or so, it was a perfect early summer evening. The westering sun was alleviated behind mounded clouds, but its glory was still shining out in rays. The lavender and primrose jasmine were releasing their late afternoon perfume and the cicadas were still singing. Doves were calling drowsy at day’s end, and an owl hooted in the gathering shadows of the oaks. I saw a lizard squirming, shaking the bushes by the house where he had been trying to catch the last warmth of the day, but now startled into the shadows by my sudden appearance. The whole scene was somehow quieter, hushed, more solemn, with the thought that the cat Kiki might be missing, gone forever from this circle of falling silence. I searched the corners of the yard as I walked, seeking for the flick of her brindled tail, the glint of her green eyes. But there was only a cat-shaped hole in the jasmine bushes, leading down into trails untrod by mankind.

Worked till almost midnight to complete the Neil Gaiman books.

 

6/10/2020: Up at 6 AM. Prayers, Bible, got dressed. Left about 6:45 AM and went to TX Cooler and got a lottery ticket. Came home, started on the Pratchett books for the BI. At 9 AM made Kam bacon and eggs, then had some soup. Tired out by my walk, I laid down and slept. Got up about 1:30 PM. Had the windows open still all afternoon. Inventory. At 2:30 PM went in and started supper, making rice, thawing chicken. Finished by 4 PM. Came in worked on Inventory. Went in at 8 PM and made Kam biscuits and cleaned up; had rice which I poured soup on. Came out and settled down and finished Pratchett books about 10:30 PM. Rosary. Cleaned house and caught up diary. Finished Twain’s ‘Equator’ this afternoon, skipping the boring Boers. Have I won the lottery? I’ll wait to tomorrow to check. Bed about midnight.

 

6/11/2020: Woke up at 5 AM, laid around until 5:30 AM to try to sleep more, then up. Prayers, Bible (with some extra chapters, as I was reading the story of Joseph and his brothers and got caught up in the story) then at 6 AM turned off the AC. Time for a shower. Turns; a very cool morning. Started BI with the Greg Hildebrandt books.

 Watched Perry Mason. Moved on to the Annotated editions. Made Kam bacon and eggs and ate the leftover cabbage and taters. Worked on BI until 11 AM and break.

Finished Annotated shelf at 3 PM, and I think I am done for the day, and soon will start supper. I sent John the suggestion he write a film script for AGODP and it seemed to spark his interest; he said he would try.

I: A new idea came to me last night. If you are still looking for a project, why don't you brush off the ol' William Goldman and write me a shooting script for "A Grave on Deacon's Peak"? Creative enough to be engaging, and you don't have to build it from the ground up, and it would give us something to discuss. It wouldn't hurt to have a script ready for Yen to shop around, and it could whet my appetite for when I go back to Bob's Book 2, which seems to have gone into a summer sleep, edged out of the nest by the Inventory, which still obsesses me. Think about it. I would be very interested to see what could be whittled away and still have the main story told. But I think Frobisher must be in the prologue, no matter how brief.

He: An interesting proposal.  Being conceived in your dreaming mind, the story has been very cinematic from its inception.  I'll take a look at screenplay format guidelines and start playing around with "seeing" it- maybe I can kickstart my moribund creativity with your readymade tale. I've felt a few twinkling embers lately, which, believe me, I did not expect to ever feel again, the way things were going.  My faith is weak, but I promise you this much - I will try. Thanks.

I: Excellent! Right now, I am working on my annotated editions for the Inventory and was on Huck Finn when your message popped up. Did you know that the Sherman Brothers wrote the songs for the Johnny Whitaker 1973 "Tom Sawyer" and the 1974 "Finn" sequel? Write some songs too! You're good at that. But script first!

Made supper: chili, corn, rotini. Came in and started on BI again. Did my turns, then rosary a little after 7 PM. Washed dishes a little after 8 PM. Went back to BI and finished about 10:30 PM. 

Notes

Long summer days made short summer diary entries. Not to keep anyone in suspense, Kiki did turn up again later. My formatting on these entries changes when I pop pictures in; I have to try to fix that.

 

Into the Archive: The Latin Letters of C.S. Lewis

The Latin Letters of C.S. Lewis (Paperback)

by C.S. Lewis (Author), Don Giovanni Calabria (Author), & 2 more

In September 1947, after reading C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters in Italian, Fr. (now St.) Giovanni Calabria was moved to write the author, but he knew no English and assumed (rightly) that Lewis knew no Italian. So he wrote his letter in Latin, hoping that, as a classicist, Lewis would know Latin. Therein began a correspondence that was to outlive Fr. Calabria himself (he died in December 1954, and was succeeded in correspondence by Fr. Luigi Pedrollo, which continued until Lewis’s own death in 1963).
        Translator/editor Martin Moynihan calls these letters “limpid, fluent and deeply refreshing. There was a charm about them, too, and not least in the way they were ‘topped and tailed’ — that is, in their ever-slightly-varied formalities of address and of farewell.”
 More than any other of his published works The Latin Letters shows the strong devotional side of Lewis, and contains letters ranging from Christian unity and modern European history to liturgical worship and general ethical behavior.
       This new edition is greatly enhanced by a new foreword from the eminent Lewis Scholar, Mark A. Noll, from the University of Notre Dame.  – Amazon

What that description does not exactly clarify is that this book includes the letters of Fr. Calabria and Fr. Pedrollo, which prompted Lewis’ letters. I am sure that I have some if not all of the letters from CSL in the 3 massive volumes of his collected letters, but being gathered here with the complete correspondence does give it some further context. As Peter Kreeft said, “If someone had told me there existed a long correspondence between C. S. Lewis and a saint … and that it was about ecumenism and reunion …I would think they were pulling my leg.”

“Giovanni Calabria (8 October 1873 – 4 December 1954) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who dedicated his life to the plight of the poor and the ill. He established two congregations, the Poor Servants of Divine Providence and the Poor Sisters Servants of Divine Providence to take better care of poor people in various Italian cities and later abroad while underpinning the need to promote the message of the gospel to the poor. Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1988 and then canonized him a decade later in 1999. His liturgical feast is 4 December.” - Wikipedia

From The Epistle to Diognetus (maybe 150 to 225 AD)

For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven.  They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life.  They are poor, yet make many rich;  they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are called evil, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless;  they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.