“I believe that many who find that 'nothing happens' when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.”
C.S. Lewis - Introduction to "On the Incarnation" by St. Athanasius
01.31.09
Posted in Literature at 1:22 pm by Adam B.
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
Ivanhoe was written by Sir Walter Scott in 1819. It is set in 12th century England when king Richard was returning from the crusades and prince John was attempting to usurp his throne. Ivanhoe is perhaps the best knight that served under Richard in their attempts to win back the Promised Land.
I almost didn’t make it through this one. Scott opens every scene with a superfluity of detail near excessive enough to thwart even my most valiant attempts to endure this work. Couple that with his propensity towards arduous language (words like superfluity) and the fight was near to great for this brave knight. But hail, the foe is vanquished. If in patience you attend to my discourse I will distribute the spoils forthwith.
Ivanhoe is historical fiction. Scott shows his mastery of the time through his knowledge of people, places, customs, prejudices, clothes and even language. If his descriptive language was not difficult enough, all the dialog in the book is written in old English, complete with thees, thous, and thuss, that took quite an adjustment on my part.
By chapter 4 I nearly gave up. Until this point the story was boring, I had no sense where it was headed, and the title character had yet to be introduced. Today they tell you stories should start off with a bang. A conversation between a swine herder and a jester with no context besides the excessive detail about their clothes and personal affects was hardly the bang I was looking for. I don’t say this to dissuade you from this book, but to prepare the reader for a difficult beginning.
By the time I came to terms with his writing and dialog the story picked up. Ivanhoe is story about knights and damsels in distress, concealed identities, battles, and a nation ill at ease with its own identity. It has the tenor of a fantasy novel without all the magic and dwarfs and hobbits. Notwithstanding, its characters are exceptional; from the bowman Locksley who can hit a switch from 100 paces to the mysterious Black Knight whose power in battle is beyond renown. Scott’s interweaving of history with the legends of the time is masterful and well worth it.
Occasionally a book has a scene that fully exploits and demonstrates the power of the written word over other media. I recall one such scene in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities where a fight broke out between two woman that was so masterfully portrayed it could not be done justice in film. This book, too, had one such moment; in this case between a Jewish girl and a Templar knight. In his attempt to rape her she threatens to cast herself from the castle wall. She then expounds on the true meaning of virtue. The knight cannot help but change in her presence. To say more would spoil the work, but rarely is virtue so eloquently described while showing its insurmountable power against those who are without. There is mighty strength in purity and honest virtue, strength we often forget in our attempts to justify ourselves against a licentious world. Scott understood this power well and nobly embodied it in the form of the weak Jewish beauty who conquered the passions of the Templar knight.
Highly recommended for the stout of heart.
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01.22.09
Posted in Code at 1:05 pm by Adam B.
Freshly Brewed Web Design
After long deliberation I have decided to start a web design business. I have been making websites for pay since this summer and the experience has been positive for me and my customers, so I have decided to expand. You can check out my main site for this venture at http://fbwebd.com. The site is only recently completed so I am open to suggestions for improvement. I will be using this page as a hub for the business as well as a place to catalog my web development ideas. I currently have but one post that is about getting a coverflow plugin working as a portfolio. Techincal, boring stuff, but helpful for people building sites like I am (and helpful for reminding me how I got certain things working).
If you know of anyone who needs a new site or who has a site that needs a face lift feel free to send them my way.
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01.13.09
Posted in Literature at 12:13 pm by Adam B.
The Darksword Trilogy: Volume 1
I recently decided that my reading was a bit haphazard. After completing a list of must-read of books I was left to my own devices trying to discover profitable reading material from the vast storehouse of literature. That was frustrating, to say the least. Too much to read, no context to appreciate what I was reading. After a few attempts I decided to limit myself to a particular era and supplement my reading with history, philosophy and poetry from the same era. After contemplating this for all of two minutes I settled on the French Revolution. History has always been a murky subject for me, but this was the fog among the murkiness; I couldn’t make heads or tails of this event. Couple that with its enormous influence on the rest of European history, my ignorance of this era left me feeling historically inadequate; a feeling, I’m sure you agree, that is quite despicable and disheartening.
Sadly, there is no standard list of “books you must read to understand the French Revolution.” Consequently, for now, I have limited myself to books written between 1770 and 1820. Happily, I have found this era full of great works that are not too ancient to be difficult to read or understand. On the side, I began reading a book on European history to give me a context for this literature. Most of this historical material I have read before for my coursework, but it is much more engaging when I don’t have to read 100 pages a day for an assignment.
To the book at hand: Clearly The Darksword Trilogy is not from the 18th century. For some time now I have considered writing a fantasy novel. I have a robust pre-history that is ever expanding, a wonderful set of characters (in my opinion) and a basic plot for at least one book. One problem. I almost never read fantasy. I love Lewis and Tolkien but I have yet to enjoy other fantasy authors, not that I have tried all that hard. Discerning this weakness my friend Steve Fitz. has taken it upon himself to recommend fantasy novels for me to read for my education in the subject. He has gone through great travail, at my behest, procuring a wide range of authors and styles for me to read to give me an understanding of the genre and its readers. As I did not want to be overcome by this pursuit, I have committed to read 1 fantasy book for every 3 literary novels I consume. (Steve, for his part, has allowed me to recommend 1 piece of literature for every 3 of his books he reads. Lord of the Flies is the first for him.) Forging the Darksword was my first in this pact.
As I doubt many of my readers will be interested in this particular work I will make my comments brief. The writing was mediocre. The author’s use of metaphors reminded me of Max Payne. Remember those great one-liners? “The night was cold, cold like a gun.” In this book every breeze, bush, and bucket of water was personified, which became very grating over time. All the dialogue was broken up with enumerable details of body position, facial contortions, lip licking, breathing style and sweat rate. Come on! Just let the people talk for once! That being said, the story was decent, and the characters, while not believable in the least, were fun. I did learn a lot about conduits, life magic, and the differences between warlocks, mages, druids, and sorcerers. All important information.
The true frusteration of this book was that the author resolved almost nothing in the end. The climax was the death of a relatively minor villan with no change in situation for any of the major characters. If I enjoyed the book this would entice me to read on, but as it stands I doubt I will pick up any more of this author’s books anytime soon, if ever.
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01.09.09
Posted in Literature at 10:34 am by Adam B.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
We have this story all wrong. Frankenstein is the creator, not the monster. He is a college student, not a mad scientist. There is no hunchback named Igor. There is no lightning. Whatever we think we know about Frankenstein, we have it wrong.
Despite its awful adaptations in movies, cartoons and parodies, this is a fantastic story. It is gripping from start to finish (especially if you are a bit nerdy), it explores the glories and the dangers of putting our hopes in science and society, and, perhaps best of all, it is not too long. I have also been able to strike up conversations about this work in multiple venues, something I have yet to accomplish with any other piece of literature. I couldn’t be happier with it.
Frankenstein, as a young man, represents the best society has to offer. He is brilliant, a family man, and in love. He goes to school and immediately finds he has a knack for the natural sciences.He excels in his studies and, after great labor, he discovers the secret to life. Instead of creating something small he decides to create something grand, something like a man but better: bigger, stronger, smarter. Yes smarter. The monster actually becomes quite articulate. Our good friend Frankenstein made but one teensy mistake, he made him hideously ugly. Not on purpose, he intended him to be superior in every way. Unfortunately for the monster (perhaps he would have a name if he were not so ugly) his hideousness was his undoing. Not even the good Christians in the book could accept him. Then again, they were French.
All of this is only the beginning to a marvelous tale. If your burned out on Twilight and Harry Potter and can’t find anything else to suite your fancy, give Frankenstein a try.
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