Kierkegaard spent his life denouncing/warning those who never took the leap of faith, but instead stood apart as an “objective” spectator of life. These people would end up in the Inferno of Dante, who seems to share Kierkegaard’s aversion to “the vulgar crowd”, the noncommittals, the cowards. In life, they never stood or fought for anything, in death, they are forced to run after a banner without respite; in life, […]
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The Divine Comedy: II. Your soul has been assailed by cowardice
Bertrand Russell was quoted to have said, “I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.” A fitting retort was given by Electra (Sophocles), “I admire you for your prudence. For your cowardice I hate you.” In Canto II of Inferno, there is another brilliant example of a woman putting a man to shame for his cowardice. Our narrator Dante was reluctant to embark on the journey […]
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The Divine Comedy: I. A riveder le stelle
I’m finally starting to read “The Divine Comedy” (translated by Allen Mandelbaum) with my GR group. Departing from my usual practice of writing one review at the end, I’ll be jotting down my thoughts, findings and impressions as I read along, in a running series of posts, starting with this one. Mandelbaum translated both Aeneid and Divine Comedy, and received awards for both. No other translator of DC has that […]
Read more“Faust” by Goethe
The Emperor Has No Clothes The overall impression or feeling I had after reading Part I is perhaps the same as that of the little child in Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale: bland disappointment after being seduced into high expectations, and a nauseating sense of disgust. Is this the best you could conjure up, Herr Goethe? The “representative man”, one who is supposed to be the equal of the Spirit, […]
Read more“Plays” by Leo Tolstoy
“The Power of Darkness” is perhaps one of the darkest of Tolstoy’s works, because it depicts the most hideous of human nature. One can hardly believe that the characters are human beings, not some wild beasts, or those driven mad by the gods in the Greek tragedies. C.S.Lewis might have been inspired by “The First Distiller” in writing “The Screwtape Letters”, as it relates the story of how an imp […]
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“The Devil” by Leo Tolstoy
The Conservative It is generally supposed the Conservatives are usually old people, and that those in favour of change are the young. That is not quite correct. Usually Conservatives are young people: those who want to live but who do not think about how to live, and have not time to think, and therefore take as a model for themselves a way of life that they have seen. His Wife […]
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“The Bacchae” by Euripides
“The Bacchae” won the first prize in the City Dionysia festival in Athens in 405 BC, for good reason I suppose. The structure, plot, and character development are among the best of Euripides. William Arrowsmith, the translator, compared it to “Oedipus the King”, “Agamemnon” and “King Lear”, as one of the greatest tragedies. Truth be told, I’m not quite sure what to make of it. For example, is there anything […]
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