Quite A Haul

Good trip to Half Price Books today: a complete works of Shakespeare, a complete recordings of Robert Johnson, Sujata Massey's The Salaryman's Wife, and a computer game called "Splinter Cell", all for $25. Life is rich and sweet.

Canonical Literature

On a whim, I got Harold Bloom's The Western Canon out of the library and just finished it up. He's an opinionated guy, but it's an interesting question, I think: What forms the "canonical" literature of our society, and what does that even mean? Ibsen and Keats may be part of the "Western Canon", but I couldn't tell you the first thing about them, or name a single book they wrote.

So, then, what books do constitute the "canon" of this generation? Not at all who are the best writers ever, but which authors can you reference offhand to people you know, assuming that they will have read them, or at least know what you're talking about? Here's my list. What am I missing?

• Shakespeare
• Tolkein
• Dr. Seuss
• Lewis Carroll
• H.P. Lovecraft
• Robert Howard (even if they haven't actually read any Conan stories)
• Mark Twain
• Homer

And maybe:
• Watership Down by Richard Adams
• Catch 22 by Joseph Heller (again, maybe not as widely read as known)

And I suppose you can't get away from the Bible in a list like this. Everyone's heard those stories.

You could probably also throw in Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Catcher in the Rye, if only because every English class in America reads them, but I don't find them high in my conciousness.

Bloom seems convinced that the whole idea of literature is dying in an age of video and short attention spans. I don't know. I just think it's interesting to ponder which books out there really do form part of our "collective conciousness".

Edit: Forgot at least one biggie: the Brothers Grimm.

Whew.

> We are pleased to inform you that Rudolf K Thauer, the editor for
> your manuscript, and the PNAS Editorial Board have given final
> approval of your article for publication.

Long-delayed, but finally accepted! A weight off my mind.

A Very Buddhist Hannukah

Still sick, but boy did we get lots of good swag for Hannukah this year. Kind of a heavy Buddhist theme. My parents got us both The Jew In The Lotus and Zen Judaism (For you, a little enlightenment.), and Anita also got a book by the Dalai Lama and the Buddha statue in the background there. Other highlights include a banjo video by Mike Seeger, a mad science t-shirt, and a new (super fancy) digital camera. Yay!

Just remember: The Torah says "Love thy neighbor as thy self." The Buddha says "There is no self." So maybe you're off the hook.

Gack.

Desperately ill. Bleh.

However, did pass qualifying exam. Woo. Tremendously demoralizing experience, though. Carefully designed to undermine all vestiges of confidence. Mneh.

And so, back to bed. To summarize: Pfui.

However...

Regardless of what I said in the previous post, I have, in fact, had time to discover the most awesome thing ever. Just so you know.

Dropping Off The Face Of The Earth

Just a heads up for folks dancing on the edges of their chairs waiting for blog updates: qualifying exam is on the 21st, and I probably won't be doing much beyond immersing myself in the literature for the next few weeks. All questions will be answered under the assumption that they're about Sox-regulated nitroreductases, cobalamin synthesis, or mapping point mutations in Salmonella.

But I Do Still Remember How To Play!

Well, I may no longer be this stylish, but I do still seem to have this banjo on hand, and blimey if I haven't actually gone and recorded some music tonight! Call it a celebration of 10 years of jug band music...

So mosey on over to Old Timey, Dammit for the first update in nigh on a year. It's a Kevin McKrell tune called "I Don't Remember", which is, ironically, a fiendishly difficult song to remember all the words to. Every other line starts with "I don't remember..." something or other. Oy. It's a sort of a love song, and sort of a drinking song, and definitely a song about womens and the way they is.

Anyway, hope you enjoy it, and hope your day was as successful and promising as mine.