The Journal of the Core Curriculum V OLUME XIV

E DITOR- IN-CHIEF Joseph Jerome A RT D IRECTOR Sonia Rowe L AYOUT D IRECTOR Danielle Nadeau P OETRY AND T RANSLATIONS E DITORS Matthew Kelsey Dygo Tyso E DITORIAL S TAFF Amanda Braun Imry Halevi Jeena Kim Drew Love Katie Martin Alex Raike Stephanie Shimada Kentaro Yoshida Michael Zisser D IRECTOR OF THE C ORE C URRICULUM James Johnson F ACULTY A DVISOR Sassan Tabatabai

P UBLISHED by BOSTON U NIVERSITY B OSTON,MASSACHUSETTS MAY, 2005 Illustration Index Cover Joseph Jerome and Mayse Yaraghi -- Sketch after Leonardo Jessica Lowe vii Piano and Palm Leaf Danielle Nadeau 9 Lee Cobb as King Lear (courtesy Bettmann) 34 Eyes (courtesy Prentice-Hall) 57 La Mariée (courtesy Olga’s Gallery) 60 Christ as the man of Sorrows (courtesy Olga’s Gallery) 63 Landscape with St. Jerome (courtesy Olga’s Gallery) 65 Allegorical Triumph of Federico da Mantefeltro (courtesy Olga’s 65 Gallery) 67 The Delivery of the Keys (courtesy Olga’s Gallery) 67 St. John Altarpiece (courtesy Olga’s Gallery) 67 Sleeping Venus (courtesy Olga’s Gallery) 69 The School of Athens (courtesy Olga’s Gallery) 73 Statue from British Museum Elizabeth Hogg 76 Spanish Clocktower Elizabeth Hogg 93 Krishna and Arjuna (courtesy ISKON) 100 Hotel Nationale Daniel Hudon 101 Che in the Plaza Daniel Hudon 102 Cars in Havana Daniel Hudon 105 Outside a Cuban Bar Daniel Hudon 106 Plane Guard Daniel Hudon 111 Jamaican Sunset Sonia Rowe 122 Seated Girl Dygo Tosa 125 Jimi Hendrix Alex Brown 127 Australian Sunset Sonia Rowe 130 Willow Tree Ali Cumber 134 Don Quixote Daniel Hudon 138 French Farm Sonia Rowe 142 Beach Couple Elizabeth Hogg C OPYRIGHT © MMIV BY THE T RUSTEES OF B OSTON U NIVERSITY. Reproduction of any material contained herein without the expressed consent of the authors is strictly forbidden.

Printed by Offset Prep. Inc., North Quincy, Massachusetts. Copy set in Garamond. i Table of Contents Veils of Oppression 1 COCO BALINSKI

The Nobility in Candide 5 ANDREW DAVID

Clench Your Fists, Grit Your Teeth . . . 10 TRANSLATED BY KASIA ZABAWA AND MATTHEW KELSEY

Postscript to Gulliver’s Travels 12 ALYSSA BIGLEY

Virgil’s Aeneid and the Terror of Terrorism 15 DAVID ROOCHNIK

Childhood Memory 22 TRANSLATED BY GRECIA ALVAREZ

Heaven’s Answer 24 NICHOLAS SHAMAN

Odysseus 31 JON WOODING

Subjectivity and Happiness 32 DREW LOVE

Letter to the Berlinische Monatsschrift 38 MATTHEW KELSEY

Analects 1 40 Reflections Upon Pierre Bayle 42 JOSEPH JEROME

Prof. Pantagruel and the Circumference of WR150 51 KENTARO YOSHIDA

Varieties of Destruction 54 ZACHARY BOS

Second Thoughts 55 ZACHARY BOS

Against Intelligent Design 56 MARTHA MUNOZ~

Chagall’s “La Mariée” 61 DANIEL JOSEPH

Renaissance Art 62 MICHAEL ZISSER

ii Aeneas as Role Model 72 JENNA KILEY

A Conversion of Views 75 FLORA SMITH

Sincerity and Seduction in Don Giovanni 80 JAMES JOHNSON

Dome Around the Sky 87 BRIAN JORGENSEN

Krishna and the Issue of Alternative Faiths 90 ALEX RAIKE

Analects 2 96 Breakfast in the Freezer 98 MELISSA DEJESUS

Cuban Episodes 99 DANIEL HUDON

Gulliver in the Rousseauvian Isles 108 ERIKA CONNOLLY

Modern Art 119 MATTHEW KELSEY

Camus: Carnets 120 GEORGE KALOGERIS

To learn to draw is a language 123 DYGO TOSA

Goodbye American Experiment in Democracy 124 STEPHEN KALBERG

Sestina 126 ELIZABETH KEENAN

Rainy Saturday 128 AVERY ANA LUBELL

To Okeechobee Canal 129 GRECIA ALVAREZ

Don Quixote’s Quest for a Squire 130 SARAH CHANDONNET

80 132 TRANSLATED BY JAMES RIGGAN

self 135 BETHANY PICKARD

Adam to Eve in Old Age 141 SASSAN TABATABAI

iii Editor’s Note

he primary purpose of the Core Curriculum is to open up students to new ideas and horizons. This, the fourteenth edition of the Journal of the Core Curriculum, serves as a guidebook to the many worlds discovered Tthrough the Humanities and the Sciences. Gathered from works of students, faculty and friends of the Core, the reader will nav- igate across a vast sea of intellectual inquiry and literary creativi- ty. From poetry to analytical essays, thoughtful reflections to imaginative tales, the worlds contained within these pages are ripe to be explored and enjoyed.

For my part, I would like to thank Professor Sassan Tabatabai for his continued support and guidance and Dean James Johnson for being the heart and soul of the Core. I must mention Zachary Bos who led us through the proverbial inferno and out into paradiso. Finally, I am without words to describe the diligence and patience of the staff—they produced this wonderful volume in spite of my fits of insanity. Words of thanks are hardly enough.

From beginning to end, this collection represents the best that the journey through the Core has to offer. Bon voyage!

Joseph W. Jerome EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

iv Contributors GRECIA ALVAREZ is a sophomore in CAS from Madison, Wisconsin. studying English and Spanish literatures, with a DANIEL H UDON took advantage of his particular interest in translation. She is originally Canadian citizenship to visit Cuba “before Castro from Miami and is passionate about pro-demo- goes.” He will deny bringing back any cigars, and cratic movements in Cuba. She hopes to someday certainly not to win friends and influence people. contribute to the emancipation of her people He teaches Natural Science in the Core. through her writing. JOSEPH JEROME is studying the development COCO BALINSKI is a sophomore planning to of Western Culture, with a particular emphasis on major in Secondary English. She enjoys exploring the influence of the Pax Romana on early Boston, reading, running, and riding fixed-gear European thought, through the University bikes. Professors Program at BU. However, in lieu of ALYSSA BIGLEY is a sophomore in CAS, actually doing any research for this topic, he studying French Language and Literature. She instead spends most of his time attached to the hails from Voorheesville, New York. Core Office or the Core House as a self-described Core nut. ZACHARY BOS may very well be on the payroll of the Danish Butter Cookie Corporation ...the JAMES JOHNSON is at work on Masks and the investigation continues. His current projects Making of Modern Consciousness, a book on the include translations of Machado, a retelling of practice and rhetoric of masking in modern and evolution in verse, and research into a possible early-modern Europe. His essay on Mozart is programme of phylopoetics. drawn from that material. S ARAH C HANDONNET is a sophomore BRIAN JORGENSEN is Assistant Professor of English major in Core, who loves crayons, hates Humanities and English in CAS, as well as an being late, and lives her life according to fortune instructor in the Core. His areas of scholarly inter- cookies. est include ancient philosophy and Renaissance and modern poetry. ERIKA CONNOLLY is a sophomore in CAS, majoring in Music. A native of New Jersey, she DANIEL JOSEPH is a sophomore, hailing from plays piano and cello, and plans to study music Merrimack, New Hampshire. He is studying theory in graduate school. Erika owes her inspi- towards acquiring a major in English in CAS. ration in part to the late Canadian pianist Glenn STEPHEN KALBERG studied History and Gould. Sociology in Seattle, New York, and Germany, ANDREW DAVID graduated from Core in where his writing career began and ended (most- 2003, but he never really left. With his post-Core ly). He then lived down and out in Boston until involvement in the Core Current Affairs the Core Curriculum discovered and rescued him Association and as RA of the Core House, he (despite his long red beard). He has now taught spends more time in the office now than ever. He for 15 years in the Core and the Sociology thanks Dean Johnson, the Core faculty (especially Department, where he teaches courses on socio- Professor Richardson, his original discussion logical theory and comparative political cultures. leader, who still speaks of ziggurats), the CCAA, GEORGE KALOGERIS is a poet and transla- Zak, Liberty, the Core office staff, Joe for putting tor. and elsewhere. He is an instructor in the first- all this together, and his Core House residents. year Core. His book of poems based on the note- MELISSA DEJESUS is an English major in books of Albert Camus will appear in the fall. CAS. She is originally from the Midwest, hailing E LIZABETH K EENAN (CAS 07) is an

v English major with a love for 18th century and ry workshop. Romantic literature. She can usually be found play- DAVID ROOCHNIK teaches regularly both in ing piccolo for the BU marching and pep bands or the Department of Philosophy and in the reading her favorite books. Elizabeth is from Humanities portion of the Core. Before joining Hamilton, NJ. Boston University in 1995, he was an Associate MATTHEW KELSEY thanks his parents for Professor of Philosophy and Classical Studies at making his “thousand-mile journey” easier to the Iowa State University and a Visiting Associate bear, and also thanks Dyana for her unending Professor at Williams College. In 1999, he was a patience during the journal-making process. recipient of Boston University’s Metcalf Award J ENNA K ILEY, an International Relations for Excellence in Teaching. major, joined the CAS Class of 2008 from NICHOLAS SHAMAN, a Psychology major Freehold, New Jersey. from Briarwood, New York, is a sophomore in DREW LOVE is a junior Philosophy major with CAS. an English minor from Aurora, OH. In his free FLORA SMITH is from McAdoo, Pennsylvania. time, he enjoys reading, creative writing, working She is studying International Relations and is pur- with the BU Editorial Society, volunteering with suing minors in both French and Italian. the Multicultural Advancement Partnership SASSAN TABATABAI completed his Ph.D. in Program, and exploring Boston. the University Professors Program at Boston AVERY ANA LUBELL, CAS freshman and University. Now as in instructor in the Core, he connoisseur of chocolate mousse, is an aspiring continues to be a poet, boxer, and notoriously children’s author. Born in NY, Avery lives like any slow grader. average girl, immersed in Harry Potter and other DYGO TOSA (CAS 08) is a penguin-hedgehog phenomenal children’s novels while making little hybrid ninja who enjoys playing soccer and ulti- progress with writing her own (much to the cha- mate, fencing, drawing, composing poetry, and grin of her English instructors). being cool (because he’s a penguin). He studies MARTHA MUNOZ is a Biology major minor- Ancient Greek and Latin, loves beauty as truth, ing in Statistics.~ Her research in the lab of Dr. and was born in Boulder, CO. Ayako Yamaguchi involves the surgical removal or JON WOODING has overcome his persistent the laryngeal muscles of African clawed frogs. difficulty with last lines after many hours of atten- She is a sophomore in CAS and hopes to study tive critique from the BU Writers Workshop, of abroad in the fall in Madrid, Spain. which he is the president. Rather, president in BETHANY PICKARD, a sophomore in CAS, absentia, as he is currently attending classes in has particular academic and personal interests in Oxford. He is an English major from Connecticut Economics and African Studies. For further biog- now in his third year of study. raphical information, please refer to her piece, KENTARO YOSHIDA is currently thoroughly “self.” enjoying his created major, which innovatively ALEX RAIKE is a freshman in CAS, studying combines the study of the Gibberistolic Era with Philosophy and English. While most think they Arsinistic Philosophy in hopes of discovering a know something which they do not know, he is cure for pandemic persistent stomach ache. He quite conscious of his ignorance. While they also would like to thank Professor Marcia Karp make pretty speeches, he’s being cut to shreds. for her wonderful insights and inspiration. They feed him to the lions, a delicate balance. M ICHAEL Z ISSER. Sophomore in CAS. JAMES RIGGAN is a junior majoring in Islamic English, Philosophy and Psychology major with a Studies from Walnut Shade, Missouri. When not history minor. “I enjoy reading, writing, philoso- fulfilling his duties as an Air Force ROTC cadet phizing, singing in the shower, and eating peanut officer, he can be seen in pursuit of the end of his butter out of the jar.” Lords’ Quest at the BU Pub or engaged in a poet-

vi vii Coco Balinski Veils of Oppression

C OCO B ALINSKI

he veil I hide behind today, impressions of your words are still fresh twenty years later, is different in my mind. You suggested it would be from those we once wore in advantageous to his purpose (as well as the seraglio of Usbeck, that to mine) that I be granted early entry Tdomineering man who was my father. into his seraglio. I am assuming that it In that place, we women and girls were was as a result of these urgings that dur- shielded from view, our modesty main- ing my seventh year I was so ushered, tained, and our spirits suppressed by the though three years premature, behind veils we were made to wear . . . or so those veils and into those walls. Usbeck believed. If the veil I wore then What you told Usbeck in that letter was black, the veil I wear today is white. were the ‘truths’ of the seraglio. You Here in France, where I finally came to spoke of the necessity that I learn to reside in peace, the veils of women are feel love for and not condemnation in merely symbolic. Instead of shielding the seraglio. You said it was not enough me behind a shroud of oppression, to feel submissive to the rules and laws France lets me hide behind a veil of of the dwelling, but rather that the idea safety. Here ...my veil is my freedom. of submissiveness must be so instilled It is amazing how little I under- in me from the beginning that it would stood during my childhood and how become a part of my nature. In enter- much simply flew over my head ...to ing three years early, I would avoid being remain unseen, unheard, and unknown tainted by the creeping passions of until today. Recently, I stumbled upon a independence. With ease, you implied letter, Zelis, which you had penned in to Usbeck, I could simultaneously grow 1714 to my father, your husband. Do into adulthood and be converted to the you remember what you said? The moeurs of this place.

1 The Journal of the Core Curriculum

I imagine that if Usbeck were still Did he really think he could con- alive these twenty years later, he would ceal us? Control us? Mask us? Place a realize the foolishness and weakness he veil over our faces and hide us from the exhibited in taking your advice. Of late, world in which we lived? Of course he I have been tempted to look at my did. Usbeck, my father, that foolish and entrance at such an early stage of my life tyrannical man! I can see now that he as part of your master plan . . . simply was so absorbed by his supposed com- one of many manipulations crafted by mand of the women in his seraglio that you and the other women he caged it made him ignorant of your powers of behind those walls. I was too young to persuasion. understand the powers of your influ- I see now that the seraglio, like you ence then, but he, simply too blind, sim- and Usbeck’s other Persian wives, had ply too enraptured by his own suprema- two layers . . . one face exposed and the cy, failed to take note of your cunningly other cunningly concealed. The outer shrouded capabilities. layer was a mask, an idealistic front used But I am getting ahead of myself. I to placate Usbeck and his eunuchs and have been silent for twenty years, and to conform to Persian moeurs. But suddenly my words, no longer quieted inside lay a second layer. This face was by confusion, are pouring uncontrol- neither a painted veneer nor a feigned lably from my pen. façade, but rather a well-veiled visage of Alas, I am writing too late for you reality. to hear me speak. I am ashamed that it I am recalling now that façade of took your death, Mother, to allow my the seraglio wherein Usbeck presided words to escape from their ceaselessly with absolute authority even from the spinning torment in my head these distant land of France. The eunuchs, twenty years. So many questions I have although they ruled over us, were not of wanted to ask and so many angers I independent thought, nor did they gov- have wanted to vent, but only now can I ern us according to their discretion. find the strength to acknowledge these These men were merely enforcers of plaguing thoughts. Although it is too the commands of Usbeck the tyrant and late for you to hear me, I do not have servants to the cause, as were we. Did the willpower to suppress these words they fear more than you did, Mother? I that surge forth. Open your ears, Zelis, think now that they must have. Whilst for I hope my words will not be left in you schemed and plotted, using vain. This is your daughter writing. I Usbeck’s love to your advantage, they am talking to you freely as I never have simply carried out his orders dutifully, been able to before. As you lie beneath even whilst he was away in the provoca- me, I feel I can speak at long last ...the tive land of France. The only explana- last of my ties to the seraglio six under- tion I can see is a terror much greater ground. than yours.

2 Coco Balinski

Underneath that front and outer to Usbeck’s decrees; and we women layer is what I have come to view as were submissive, yet devious in our own truth and as reality. Usbeck wanted his right ...living in slavery, but always seraglio to be upheld as a home to virtue remaining free. and modesty. Living now in France, the Oppression such as that lasts only place my father called home before his so long until fear gives birth to a great failure as a ruler and the destruction of and weighty insurgency. It was 1719; I the seraglio provoked his death, I come was twelve that fateful year when in contact every day with the women he Usbeck gave Solim complete power and took pleasure from, but did not want us commanding authority over the seraglio. to be like, unveiled and provocative I can hear Usbeck’s words echoing in where we were modest and virtuous. my head now, “Solim is your chief I can remember how much he eunuch, not to guard you, but to punish wanted to be loved by you, Zelis, and I you.” see now that it was this very desire to be The violence . . . the pain ...the more loved than feared that gave you fear. Do you remember, mother? Just and the other women strength and before my fourteenth birthday that counsel to take down the seraglio. eunuch took his bequeathed power and That is the reality that I am now brought its tainted reign down upon aware of. Living with you from the age your chaste body. It was the beginning of seven to fourteen I witnessed the of the end; it was the moment you crumbling of that outer layer. The revoked all love for my father. seraglio was seen as a place where mod- For so long, I have asked myself esty dwelled and where virtue was why your rage was directed at Usbeck taught and upheld. I see now that it was and not the eunuch, whose loathsome more; it was home to underlying chaos, hands had touched you. It was not until chaos which was kindled by the fires of hearing of your death, when thoughts love, instead of extinguished by the of you and the distant past came oppressions of fear. whirling through my mind, that I began Usbeck and the eunuchs thought to understand. Only Usbeck, who they could veil us. They thought they stirred in you a complicated love, could had control over us. But it was we who prove deserving of your wrath. It was manipulated them in the end, was it not? Usbeck who handed down his power of Usbeck’s administration, as seen on the command and gave away his authority. outer façade, was thick with contradic- It was the tyrant, not his minion, who in tion: he needed to be feared, yet he one fell swoop scorned your love and wanted to be loved; he could imprison strengthened your hatred. our bodies, but never our minds; the Sometimes I hate you, Mother, just eunuchs sacrificed passion for power as you hated father. You leave me here and wealth, but gained only submission forlorn. I am alone now to think back

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on the tumbling of the seraglio: the dis- fear. How could he expect to rule by covery of Roxana’s clandestine lover, bonding love to fear? Who would bond the horrors and the violence, and the warmth with frost and expect it not to deaths that ensued from adversity. First yield a puddle on the floor? Roxana’s lover was murdered, then the There is nothing but discord and violence swelled with Roxana’s dreadful instability to be found between the two (yet markedly valiant) taking of her own ideas Usbeck sought to fuse as one. I life until, finally, the climax was reached: see now that it is this very point that is the death of Usbeck, husband and responsible for Usbeck’s demise. I’m father to some, tyrant to all. not sure if you knew, Zelis, but your Just barely fourteen, I was already husband, my father, died from causes poisoned by life in the seraglio because much less natural than the old age that of the advice you gave my father when took you away from this world. He was I was seven, urging him to usher me driven to death that year of my four- inside. How I hated you for tainting me teenth birthday by the loss of his two as the eunuch tainted you. How much I favored devices: love and power. despised you for veiling me behind the But, at long last, the time for words oppression of the seraglio, Usbeck, and has expired. Here now in my 27th year the eunuchs. of life, I have lived through tyranny and But I must let go of my rage, for oppression, seen fear dissolve, seen love now I stand on Earth while you lie in spurn hatred, and discovered under- rest with the others who have departed standing, which arose directly from the from this world. Indeed I am indebted confusion and desperation of being to you in ways I did not until recently alone in this world. Through your value. It was because of you that, strength, your persuasions, and your before I could be forced into submis- devious manipulations, Zelis, you sion and forced to love the veils that brought me both into and out of sub- oppressed me, I was awoken. It was mission. You made me aware of both because of your actions and those of the power of rebellion and the meaning the other strong and cunning women of independence. Never again will my that those very walls were torn down face be shrouded behind a veil of and my spirit was freed from the veils oppression, for it has now vanished, that oppressed it. thanks to you, along with Usbeck and Looking now from my position in his despotic regime. France, I can see that Usbeck’s rule was bound to fail. The abundant contradic- From Paris, the 7th of the moon tions under which he based his despotic of Rahmazan, 1740 rule triumphed in destruction in the end. Despotism is founded upon fear; love is founded upon a disregard for

4 Andrew David The Nobility in Candide

A NDREW D AVID

oltaire’s Candide was written mocked them with each word. This at a time of intellectual mocking of the nobility makes the book rebellion. It was a rebellion interesting and amusing even for the against the traditions that modern reader, but for Voltaire, this was Vhad stood since the fall of the Roman a political statement. While attacking the Empire. Most were still wary of speak- nobles, Voltaire described the absurdi- ing out against well-established institu- ties of their lives. He showed that they tion such as the monarchs of Europe. did not adhere to the lofty standards Beginning with the Enlightenment, they claimed to follow, that they however, those fears began to fade. The destroyed instead of protected coun- nobility soon find themselves faced with tries, and that they were just regular peo- a revolution in France that would, even ple. in its ultimate failure, sow the seeds for Voltaire commenced his attack on future civil unrest and anti-monarchical the nobility on the first page. Candide, sentiment. When Voltaire wrote the main character of the novel, lived in Candide, he saw these revolutionary one of the more unglamorous German trends in their infancy. states, Westphalia. One would think The spirit of the Enlightenment most nobility would have a fairly nice brought a new freedom that encouraged palace or castle. Befitting his status, the Voltaire to write things in Candide that most remarkable apect of Candide’s he would not have dared to write in the castle is that it, “possessed a door and past. Specifically, this can be seen in his windows” (Voltaire 1). One wonders attitude towards what was seen as previ- how the peasants lived if this was so ously unassailable: the nobility. Voltaire notable a feature as to necessitate a showed no mercy to these nobles and mention. Early in the novel Voltaire also

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mocked the lengthy names that were Candide was written in the middle bestowed upon royalty to indicate what of the Seven Years War, so it is not sur- lands they ruled over and to mark their prising that the next time the reader sees lineage. Candide’s father happened to be nobility, it is one of the main characters the Baron of Thunder-ten-tronchk (1). from the conflict: Frederick the Great. He again demonstrated the absurdity of Voltaire did not trust the lower classes, royal names when the reader is intro- and although he had a passionate dislike duced to the governor of Argentina, for the nobility, he agreed with Plato “Don Fernando d’Ibaraa y Figueora y that ideal ruler would be a philosopher Mascarenes y Lampourdos y Souza” king. He initially felt that Frederick was (38). this king, and he traveled to Prussia to Voltaire also made sure to mock the meet him. Voltaire spent time in Berlin famous pastime of the nobility: infideli- working for the court of Frederick the ty. Despite the family’s long and author- Great until he realized that a philoso- itative name, Candide’s lineage is far pher king would not use his military as from certain. Voltaire writes: Frederick had (vii). He left Berlin disillusioned after being briefly imprisoned by Old servants in the house suspect Frederick. But surprisingly Voltaire still that he was the son of the Baron’s sister and a decent honest gentle- had some respect for Frederick. He did, man of the neighborhood, whom though, relentlessly mock Frederick’s this young lady would never marry military, the institution that he took the because he could only prove seven- most pride in. Frederick’s mighty ty-one quarterings, and the rest of Prussian army was comprised largely, it his genealogical tree was lost, owing seems, of rape-prone “heroes.” What’s to injuries of time (1). more, when they come upon Candide they pressgang him into their ranks. Not only was his father of a lower class, This is where Voltaire’s sympathies can a group that the aristocracy was to be seen, and Frederick pardons Candide remain separated from, but also the per- after his attempts to desert. son who seemed to have power in the Voltaire was not done with relationship was his mother. The idea of Frederick though. After a bloody battle, having an affair with someone of a during which the combined death toll lower class might have been tacitly was about thirty thousand men, both acceptable, if only in unspoken terms, Frederick and his opponent celebrate for men. Yet it must have been shock- victory (7), despite the obvious problem ing to imagine a woman of the nobility with this. Instead of just monarchs who in the same situation. This is far from seek to take care of their subjects, the idea of the pure and noble female Frederick, Louis XV, and Austrian aristocrat that was commonly thought Emperor Franz I appeared like people of at that time. who carelessly used the lives of their

6 Andrew David

subjects for no other purpose than to that was far better than others of the kill them off and openly celebrate death. day, the nobles were still very greedy, According to Voltaire, these monarchs and took what they otherwise could not treated war as a game that need not have have. a winner as long as the nobility of both It was an interesting commentary sides enjoyed the bloodshed. This lack on Voltaire’s part that the next noble of regard for human life by the nobility they meet, the King of Eldorado, is the comes up later in the book when nicest noble in the book. Yet as readers Candide spoke to the old woman who soon realize, this was a made up king liv- took care of Cunegonde. She related to ing in a fictitious land. Unlike Don him how at one point she met a man Fernando, the king was very generous to sent to Morocco “by a Christian power Candide and his servant Cacambo. to make a treaty with that monarch When they wish to leave he said, “I cer- whereby he was supplied with powder tainly have not the right to detain for- cannon and ships to help exterminate eigners, that is a tyranny which does not the commerce of other Christians” (34- exist either in our manners or our laws” 5). This hardly seems to be the action (60). The King of Eldorado, friendly that a caring, Christian, monarch should and generous to the end, even gave take, especially when one considers them enough gold to last them a lifetime what would happen to those fellow (it certainly lasts them the rest of the Christians taken captive. novel). This king appeared to have a The next noble that the reader sense of morals, and he even followed meets is the governor of Argentina. the laws of his own land. None of the Voltaire further degraded the nobility by other nobility that Voltaire wrote of fol- showing that the nobility would do lowed any rules. Voltaire was trying to whatever they wanted, regardless of make a statement when he made the whether or not it is correct or polite. In only noble the reader admires a noble the novel Don Fernando d’Ibaraa y that is so clearly fictitious. To Voltaire, it Figueora y Mascarenes y Lampourdos y must have seemed like his imagination Souza was attracted to Cunegonde and was the only place where just and fair made this known to Candide. He, nobles existed. He certainly had not “declared his passion, vowed that the seen any other fair and just rulers in next day he would marry her publicly, or Europe to base this character on. otherwise, as it might please her Another interesting vignette involv- charms” (39). Even though he knew ing nobles takes place when Candide that Cunegonde was with Candide, he arrived in Venice. Upon his arrival the did not care. He was interested in her, Prince of Venice invited him to dinner. and she would be his. In this passage At this dinner were six other guests, and, Voltaire further demonstrates the greed over the course of the meal, Candide of the nobility. Despite having a lifestyle came to realize that these guests were all

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kings that had been overthrown and at the time. In a modern age where very forced into exile. It might seem that little, if anything, is sacred, this book exiled six monarchs from countries on seems to fit right in. For its time, how- one continent was excessive and an ever, Candide must have been ground- invention of Voltaire. The reader of breaking. Voltaire’s day, however, would have known that the people that Candide met BIBLIOGRAPHY were real kings of the day who had been Voltaire, François-Marie Arouet de. dethroned. If nothing else, this was Candide or Optimisim. Ed. Voltaire showing how tenuous the grip Norman Torrey. New York: of the nobility, or at least certain nobles, Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1946. was. These men had been placed on the throne supposedly by the divine authority of God. Yet, their divine right had not been enough to keep them there. They were forced to flee their home- lands, and never to be able to return. Although they could play games with the lives of others, take what did not belong to them, and act in morally depraved ways, this dinner scene shows they were just like everyone else when all the pomp is stripped away. Voltaire’s Candide is an interesting social commentary of the era. In Candide one can see the beginning of the revolutionary spirit that would soon sweep through Europe and would continue to effect European countries well into the mid-19th century. He demonstrated that nobles were people too, he described their cruel ways, and pointed out how absurd many of their traditions were. The once mighty nobles were no longer something to admire or fear. They had been reduced to simple, mortal, people. It is entertaining to read of Voltaire’s characterization of these people. More importantly, it is interesting to think how revolutionary this writing was

8 Andrew David

9 The Journal of the Core Curriculum

J ULIAM T UWIM

10 Matthew Kelsey & Kasia Zabawa

Clench Your Fists, Grit Your Teeth TRANSLATED FROM P OLISH BY M ATTHEW K ELSEY AND K ASIA Z ABAWA

Clench your fists, grit your teeth, Look at the world from beneath the imprint of spite. Walk beneath the high, roaring wind That would beat your face and pound the world, Like the tight drums of rebels.

This is the straight road of the lonely people: The great, drawn-out roar of the gale. Dangerous God, who roars in the gale, And the storm in the clouds-His evil fist.

I and He in everlasting agony Are blowing up the world with love; In the skies mysterious hands are raging and starry hail is in His eyes.

If a thunderbolt—that’s He, that’s He toppling down with flaming head! If a scream—that’s I, that’s I: The divine word of man’s revolt.

11 The Journal of the Core Curriculum Postscript to Gulliver’s Travels

A LYSSA B IGLEY

emuel Gulliver continued to sued. live in England until his As previously stated, when Gulliver untimely death ten years after returned from his extended stay in the his return from the land of the land of the Houyhnhnms, he was LHouyhnhnms. He was unfortunately absolutely repulsed at the sight of the trampled under a runaway cart when he humanity that surrounded him includ- tried to convince the horses pulling it to ing his wife and children. These first slow down by rationally shouting to few months, Gulliver remained mostly them as they sped wildly toward him. in his room and did not speak, touch, or His children therefore entered their look at other humans—including his adult lives with the education they family—which left a lasting impression received from their father. Their child- on the young children. They wondered hood was cut short, and they were left if they had done something seriously with their mother who had gone crazy wrong and tried to lovingly coddle from social isolation as a result of Gulliver, creating even more anguish Gulliver’s forbidding her to enter into when their father pushed them away in conversation with anyone besides their disgust. To add to the children’s confu- children, himself, or horses. The sion, their mother could offer them no absence of their father in the early years better explanation other than what she of development and their awkward believed was severe madness from his manner of education once he returned, many years at sea.. if one can call a random assortment of Gulliver often second-guessed him- contradictory morals a solid education self and his responsibilities as a father at all, resulted in failure in every endeav- when he first returned home. His years or the children of Lemuel Gulliver pur- away from England were filled with

12 Alyssa Bigley

encounters with peoples such as the did not exist in the Houyhnhnm vocab- Lilliputians, the Laputians, and the ulary from their speech because “the Houyhnhnms with various and often Houyhnhnms have no words in their contradicting outlooks on the means for language to express anything that is a moral life. Among the Lilliputians he evil” (Swift 316). He also instructed wrestled with their idea that “parents are them never to reject another living being the last of all others to be trusted with and to be earnest friends with everyone the education of their own children” they met. This confused the children (Swift 58). The horrors of the Yahoos, because they often overheard their on the other hand, resounded in his father speak in very arrogant tones memory as “the most filthy, noisome, about the servants in the household, and deformed animal which nature ever springing from the Houyhnhnm tradi- produced” (Swift 311). After a great tion of tolerating the proliferation of deal of contemplation he came to the the lower classes simply for the service conclusion that the prospect of his chil- of the upper classes (Swift 307). dren living their lives in typical Yahoos The repercussions of such educa- fashion was unbearable, and the only tion extended to all elements of their way to avoid this was to take their adult lives. When the Gulliver boys instruction into his own hands by mak- became of age to enter a profession, ing every effort to eradicate all the evil they assumed that every common job Yahoo characteristics he saw in his chil- was below their status and conducted dren. themselves with an air of pride with When their father finally did begin every horse-like step they took. to speak it was only to chastise their bad Therefore the only jobs that they—in manners and excessive passions or their minds—condescended to take instruct them to speak to the horses. were that of stable boys and carriage Because Gulliver wished more than any- drivers, leaving them with little income thing to bring his children up in the tra- and many failed attempts to marry. dition of the Houyhnhnms, he stressed The Gulliver girls, on the other their “friendship and benevolence” hand, faced an even worse fate than toward all living creatures, yet at the their younger brothers. Because they same time instilled pride in their charac- were so strikingly beautiful their father ter at this crucial time in the develop- impressed upon them the idea that they ment of their personality (Swift 246). must marry only intelligent young men. Without giving any explanation, the This idea he instilled in their minds was children were forced to inflect their in keeping with the Houyhnhnm tradi- tones to an odd pitch while speaking tion of procreating to create the perfect English, somewhat similar to a horse’s match of brains and beauty. When they neigh and “almost articulate” (Swift sought after these educated men they 251). Gulliver erased those words that did not recieve the response that they

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expected. Not only did the English men mimicked the extremely detailed find their voices irritating and difficult descriptions their father gave them of to understand, but they detested the the Academy of Lagado, recounting to self-importance the girls projected while anyone who would listen all the minute in social situations and the equality with details of their life (Swift 201). which they expected to be treated. They Lemuel Gulliver’s children became reasoned thus because their father confused, scatterbrained, and destined instructed them that male and female to failure as a result of their father’s Houyhnhnms conducted themselves inability to perceive the overall message with mutual respect and equal roles in from the numerous people he encoun- their education and life. He told them tered and his own inadequacies. The frequently that “my master thought it legacy of Gulliver is a sad one because monstrous in us to give the females a he never lived up to his promise to different kind of education from the develop a good society modeled that of males” (Swift 308). the Houyhnhnms. He could not engen- After their father’s death the der this dream in his own family. Gulliver children grew up isolated and ostracized. Without decent occupations or families of their own, they never came to realize what overarching qualities make for a decent life. Lemuel Gulliver’s intentions may have been gen- uine, but he could not realize his own shortcomings and subsequently passed them to his children. They had often heard him say of his Houyhnhnm friend “my master, who daily convinced me of a thousand faults in myself, whereof I had not the least perception before” (Swift 237). Gulliver’s obsession for details got in the way of a proper education for his children so he never emphasized the importance of modera- tion, honesty in all situations, and respect for all living creatures because he was too busy telling them the adventures of his life, the landscape and exact measurements of place he visited, and how many languages he had learned. The children interpreted and in turn

14 David Roochnik Virgil’s Aeneid and the Terror of Terrorism

D AVID R OOCHNIK

Abstract: Virgil’s Aeneid contains a fundamental critique of terrorism. The poet depicts Aeneas as the civilized “European” man, hoping to resolve conflict with the “other” by rational, peaceful means. By contrast, his opponents, the native Italians, unleash the forces of terror in their battle against the foreigners. The Aeneid does not, however rest content with this apparently simple moral dichotomy. For even “devoted” (pius) Aeneas, when sufficiently provoked, engages in acts of terror: he burns a city down and needlessly kills Turnus. The Aeneid, then, contains a basic message: terrorism is a perpetual possibility, in the face of which a good “Roman,” a good “European,” should be terrified.

emí Brague, in his extraordi- universe and demanded obedience, and nary book, Eccentric whose word is revealed in the Bible, the Culture: A Theory of book of European books. With the one Western Civilization, claims possible exception of its legal system, Rthat Europe itself is essentially Roman. nothing Roman can compare. As (The original title of the French edition Brague puts it, echoing the judgment of is Europe, la voie romaine.) This may countless scholars, “The Romans come as a surprise, for as great as the invented nothing” (29). The origins, the Roman Empire was in political, military, central resources, of their own culture and administrative terms, its cultural were outside of themselves. achievements pale in comparison with To be Roman, then, is to feel one- those made by the Greeks and the Jews, self to be inferior to one’s own source two of the older cultures Rome and thus to experience the need to absorbed. The Greeks, not the Romans, appropriate an ancient heritage that is developed the basic forms of philoso- not one’s own (by, for example, learning phy, science, mathematics, architecture, Greek). The Roman way is to make the medicine, sculpture, poetry, history, and old new, and then to carry it forward. As drama that all subsequent generations of such, it may appear almost trivial. After Europeans, including the Romans, emu- all, as Brague puts it, “The Romans have lated. The Jews, not the Romans, con- done little more than transmit” (32). ceived of a single God, who created the The genius of Brague’s argument is to

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show that it is precisely in this ability to n this paper I will extend Brague’s transmit, in this relationship to the Iclaim about the Aeneid and apply it external sources of itself, that Rome to one issue, terrorism. I will argue that became quintessentially European. the Roman epic contains a fundamental Europe is Roman because its cul- critique of terrorism. It is, however, a ture is “eccentric:” its center is outside dark and conflicted story, one infected, of itself, in its ancient sources, princi- from beginning to end, with a “terror of pally Greek texts and the Bible. The terrorism.” On the one hand, Aeneas implications of this single observation represents a version of Roman civiliza- are huge. European culture is character- tion that stands resolutely opposed to ized by a “feeling of alienation or inferi- terrorism. As his father Anchises ority in relation to a source” (100). In famously puts it: other words, to be properly European is Roman, remember by your strength to rule to know that one is not self-sufficient. It Earth’s people— for your arts are to be these: is to experience a lack and a restless To pacify, to impose the rule of law, need to learn. On a mundane level, this To spare the conquered, battle down the has implied (until quite recently) that a proud. properly educated European had to VI.1151-4 know Greek, Latin, and often Hebrew. The statement makes it clear that the Even if these were not spoken on the goal of the Roman Empire must be street, they were the original languages peaceful rule by law, and indeed Aeneas of the books that gave birth to Europe’s himself exhibits just this stance in the cultural identity. Aeneid. On the other hand, Virgil also On the basis of this little sketch, it makes it clear to his reader that the should not be surprising that Brague danger of even the civilized Roman identifies Virgil’s Aeneid as the lapsing into terrorism is a permanent European epic par excellence (See p. possibility. Enraged by the Rutulians’ 48). It is the story of displaced Trojans repeated breaking of the truce and by who come to Italy, bringing with them the killing of Pallas, Aeneas says this to their old gods, their old ways, but able to his soldiers: adapt to the new demands imposed upon them by the daunting challenge Unless our enemies accept our yoke And promise to obey us, on this day they face from the native Italians, and to I shall destroy their town, root of this war, implant their own culture on foreign Son of Latinus’ kingdom. I shall bring soil. Aeneas is, precisely as Brague puts Their smoking rooftops level with the ground. it, a “transmitter” of culture, one who Countrymen, this town is head and heart Of an unholy war. Bring out your firebrands! will always be “alien” to Italy; one who Make terms, this time, with a town in flames. will always look both forward to the XII.771-81 building of his new city, and backwards to the land of his Trojan father. A citizen of what was then the world’s

16 David Roochnik

great superpower, Virgil unambiguously that our Latins / come of Saturn’s race, condemns terrorism. But he fears that that we are just” (VII.267-69). The king his own empire can, and therefore offers his daughter in marriage to might, unleash terrors of its own. Just Aeneas, and is fully prepared to inte- as Brague has it, then, the true Roman is grate the new-comers into his commu- conflicted. Knowing himself to be nity. “eccentric,” i.e., not fully self-centered, But such a peaceful resolution is always alienated, the Roman must be not to be. Juno, Aeneas’ dire enemy, cautious, fearful, open to others, and summons “Allecto, / Grief ’s dear mis- eager to learn. The worst thing that can tress, with her lust for war / for angers, happen to the Roman, to the European, ambushes, and crippling crimes” is to become “full of himself,” i.e., think (VII.444-46), into action. Allecto in himself to be self-sufficient and without turn infects the heart of Amata, queen conflict. For this thought, this massive of the Latins, who then goads Turnus form of self-congratulation, would into war. eliminate the great obstacle to the terri- What is striking about this chain of fying ruthlessness of unlimited military provocations is its utterly futility. It is a expansionism. The true Roman, accord- given that Aeneas will conquer Italy and ing to Virgil in his astonishingly that Rome will rise. It is a given that nuanced epic, is terrified of his own Turnus will lose this war. Juno knows capacity for violence. It is precisely this this full well, and yet proceeds with her terror that the terrorist lacks. plans. She is the spirit of pure resentment, operating only with the desire to irst, a crude characterization of ter- inflict maximum, but strategically use- Frorism: it is the infliction of unex- less, harm. She confesses this: pected violence on randomly selected I am defeated civilians designed to terrorize an entire And by Aeneas. Well, if my powers fall short, population. With this working defini- I need not falter over asking help tion in hand, it is possible to see (albeit Wherever help may lie. If I can sway with some difficulty) the native Italians, No heavenly hearts I’ll rouse the world below. It will not be permitted me— so be it— the enemies of the Trojans, as terroris- To keep the man from rule in Italy; tic. The most important fact in this By changeless fate Lavinia waits, his bride. context is that they repeatedly reject or And yet to drag it out, to pile delay break Aeneas’ offer for rational com- Upon delay in these great matters—that I can do: to destroy both countries’ people, promise and for peace. That I can do. Latinus, king of Laurentium, initial- VII.422-33 ly welcomes Aeneas and his band of wandering Trojans when they arrive in The terror about to be unleashed by this Italy. “Now do not turn away / from female triumverate—Juno, Allecto, hospitality here,” he tells them. “Know Amata—is inspired by divinely sanc-

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tioned resentment of the militarily and to reject the truce. He is like a “stallion” culturally superior Trojans. Its only pur- who “may turn to a grazing herd of pose is to inflict harm and to make the mares” (XI.675). He preys on the inno- foreigners, the “heathens,” suffer pain. cent. Near the end of the story, it is This resentment is so pure that it will finally decided that Aeneas and Turnus respect no conventions, no boundaries, will engage in single combat and their and none of the civilized practices of fight will determine the outcome of the war. For the triumverate and their rep- war. However primitive, this is a ration- resentative, Turnus, what follows is an al means of “conflict resolution.” But exuberantly suicidal war that aims not the Rutulians, despite the fact that they for victory, but for maximum violence. “hoped for rest from combat, safety for Aeneas, by contrast, is “heartsick at the their way of life,” yet again engage in an woe of war” (VIII.37) and repeatedly unexpected attack. They “felt / a han- tries to make peace. kering of weapons, wished the pact / To elaborate on this notion of the could be unmade” (XII.331-3). Their Italians as terrorists: as mentioned, they “bad faith” (XII.672) forces the battle to repeatedly break the initial truce with recommence. the Trojans. Despite the fact that their Finally, let us not forget Turnus’ king had said to Aeneas, “What you chief ally, the torturer Mezentius, the desire will be granted, Trojan” most terrifying of all characters in the (VII.351), they (provoked by Allecto) Aeneid: unexpectedly attack the newcomers. He would even couple carcases They substitute violence for political With living bodies as a form of torture. negotiation. Their nominal excuse is Hand to hand and face to face, he made them that Aeneas’ son Iulus had inadvertently Suffer corruption, oozing gore and slime killed a stag loved by Silvia, the daughter In that wretched embrace, and a slow death. of Tyrrhus, chief herdsmen of the VIII.652-6 Latin. Allecto, “Sounded the herds- bviously, a more elaborate account man’s call: on her curved horn / she Oof terrorism, as well as a far more sent into the air a blast from hell” sophisticated reading of the Aeneid,is (VII.705-6), which called the Latins to required to establish the thesis that the arms. The battle begins without just Italians are terrorists. For the limited cause. purpose of this paper, however, the This pattern of disregarding nego- above will have to suffice. Nevertheless, tiated treaties continues until the very it is clear that for Virgil the Allecto- end. Latinus offers a territorial com- inspired violence of the Italians is promise: “Let this region all be ceded uncivilized, apolitical, irrational, futile, now in friendship to the Trojans” and generated from a resentment of a (XI.433). Turnus, “furiously on edge culturally ascendant “other.” Finally, it for battle” (XI.662), goads the Italians is altogether self-righteous. Turnus has

18 David Roochnik

no doubt about the mad righteousness This is an astonishing scene, one that of his struggle. rivals Homer’s depiction of the recon- To this sort of violence the civi- ciliation of Achilles and Priam in the lized Roman stands opposed. As men- Iliad, and it goes to the heart of why the tioned, Aeneas is repeatedly reluctant to Aeneid, as the European book par excel- go to war. He is, in good “European” lence, is fundamentally opposed to ter- fashion, conflicted: rorism. Aeneas is able to recognize his mortal enemy as a mirror image of him- What carnage is at hand for poor Laurentines. What retribution you will make to me, self. After all, like Lausus, he too exhib- Turnus. Many a shield, many a helm, ited great filial piety, and risked his own And many brave men’s bodies you’ll take under, life (and perhaps lost his wife) for the Father Tiber. Let them insist on war, sake of his father Anchises. The Let them break treaties! VIII.729-734 “other,” then, is not completely “other.” Enemies are linked by a common, and The supreme, and most beautiful, altogether fragile, humanity. For this moment of Aeneas’ conflict is felt when reason, violence must be used as a last he kills Lausus, the son of Mezentius, resort, with enormous caution, and with the torturer. After felling Mezentius the highest degree of discrimination. with his spear, Aeneas is prepared to In civilized, in Roman, warfare, finish him off. But at that moment there is an essential difference between a Lausus enters the fray and tries to rescue combatant and a non-combatant. After his dying father. This is a glorious act of all, if a combatant like Lausus is so heroic sacrifice. Amazingly, and despite much like Aeneas, then how much more the fact that Mezentius is the cruellest of so must be the women, the children, the men, Aeneas sympathizes with Lausus. older men of the Italians be like the Indeed, he even warns him not to throw families of the Trojans. For Aeneas, away his life: “Why this rush deathward, unlike Turnus and Mezentius, war is an daring beyond your power? / Filial piety undesirable, but lamentably unavoidable makes you lose your head” (X.1137-8). option. But Lausus does not heed the well intentioned warning, and Aeneas must irgil, writing to Augustus who com- kill him. Vmands the military might of a O poor young soldier, superpower, will not let his reader sit How will Aeneas reward your splendid fight? comfortably with the simple moral How honor you, in keeping with your nature? dichotomy suggested above. While it is Keep the arms you loved to use, for I true that because he is conflicted Return you to your forebears, ash and shades, If this concerns you know. Unlucky boy, Aeneas is morally superior to Turnus, it One consolation for sad death is this: is simply false to say that the Rutulians You die by the sword-thrust of great Aeneas. are terrorists and the Trojans civilized. X.1154-61 As mentioned, it is Aeneas, not Turnus,

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who burns a city down. He has been pushed to the extreme by the breaking But Aeneas is consumed by hatred and of the truce and the killing of Pallas. cannot resist exerting the force that is But what can excuse the burning of a his. When he sees the swordbelt that city? To cite again a terrifying line, had originally belonged to Pallas and Aeneas says to his soldiers, “Bring out taken as a prize by Turnus—which is a your firebrands! / Make terms, this time, conventionally acceptable right of the with a town in flames!” (XII.780-1). victor in battle—Aeneas becomes lost And so, in rage. At that moment, he is utterly without conflict, and so, One company rushed the gates And cut down the first guards they met; He sank his blade in fury in Turnus’ chest. another Then all the body slacked in death’s chill, Launched their missiles, darkening the sky . . . And with a groan for that indignity Amid the townspeople His spirit fled into the gloom below. Panic and discord grew. XII.1295-9 XII.785-96 Virgil leaves his reader with this shock- This is an air campaign. Missiles and ingly, terrifyingly, abrupt ending. precision guided bombs are dropped Dedicated, loyal, faithful (pius) Aeneas, from high above, and a city bursts into the great Roman hero, is capable of pre- flame. There is, perhaps, some reason cisely the kind of transgression he for doing this. The leaders of opposes. There is no good reason to kill Laurentum have refused to make peace. Turnus. At that moment, and perhaps They are suicidal fighters, hell-bent on even more so when he burns the city, he inflicting damage to an enemy that they is the moral equivalent of the terrorists know they cannot defeat. They must be he reluctantly killed. pounded into submission, and the “townspeople” must be terrified. Only, o return to Brague’s notion of the reasoning might go, their terror of TEurope as Roman: the Aeneid is future bombardments can bring the war the founding myth of Europe precisely to a definitive close. because it is conflicted. A “good The last scene of Virgil’s Aeneid is European” must always be “eccentric,” famously chilling. Despite his father’s must always recognize that because he quintessentially Roman injunction to came to be from sources other than “spare the conquered,” this is precisely himself, he is an alien even to himself. what Aeneas fails to do. Turnus is A ‘good European’ should never con- defeated and he begs for mercy: ceive of himself as self-sufficient and You have defeated me. The Ausonians Have seen me in defeat, spreading my hands. thus should always be open to making Lavinia is your bride. But go no further peace with, and learning from, strangers. Out of hatred. Terrorism is the opposite. It XII.1272-4 emanates from a fundamental self-right-

20 David Roochnik

eousness, an utter conviction in the sanctity of one’s cause and the consequent permissibility of administering random death to innocent non-combat- ants. Terrorism implies the strongest distinction between “us” and “them.” It is morally permissible to kill “them” because their very otherness makes them evil. The Aeneid teaches its reader that such an attitude is fundamentally wrong. Regrettably, however, it is also a perpetual temptation, even for the civilized Roman. The best, the most “European,” attitude is therefore exhibited not by Aeneas, but by the careful reader of the Aeneid. At the end of the story, witnessing Aeneas thrust his sword into Turnus, the reader—and Virgil must hope that this would include Augustus himself—should be filled with terror at the possibilty that even the mightiest and most civilized empire will burn down cities, terrify the “townspeople,” and ruthlessly kill its enemies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Brague, Remí, Eccentric Culture: A Theory of Western Civilization. Trans. Samuel Lester. Chicago: St. Augustine’s Press, 2002. Virgil. The Aeneid. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Vintage, 1990.

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Recuerdo Infantil A NTONIO M ACHADO

Una tarde parda y fría de invierno. Los colegiales estudian. Monotonía de lluvia tras los cristales.

Es la clase. En un cartel se representa a Caín fugitivo, y muerto Abel junto a una mancha carmín. Con timbre sonoro y hueco truena el maestro, un anciano mal vestido, enjuto y seco, que lleva un libro en la mano.

Y todo un coro infantile va cantando la lección: mil veces ciento, cien mil, mil veces mil, un millón.

Una tarde parda y fría de invierno. Los colegiales estudian. Monotonía de la lluvia en los cristales.

22 Grecia Alvarez

Childhood Memory TRANSLATED FROM S PANISH BY G RECIA A LVAREZ A brown and cold afternoon in winter. The schoolchildren study. Monotony of rain against glass.

Inside the class. A poster shows Cain the fugitive, and a dead Abel beside a crimson stain. With a hollow, sonorous tone the professor thunders, an old man ill-dressed, skinny and dried-up, who carries a book in his hand.

And the entire children’s chorus sings out the lesson: ten times a thousand, ten-thousand, a thousand times a thousand, a million.

A brown and cold afternoon in winter. The schoolchildren study. Monotony of rain on glass panes.

23 The Journal of the Core Curriculum Heaven’s Answer

N ICHOLAS S HAMAN

fire burns in the Land of Uz. A court of priestly wisdom sits gazing upon flaming despair, A one not ready to quench the blaze. These religious thrones of wise men are the ones whom all seek out for a soulful peace. Attending the ways of God, paramount is their authority in His works

But this midnight council is of a different kind. Here they sit to console one of their own. The one once on the highest throne. But, now from it he is thrown.

Job, the paragon of integrity and righteousness, despairing as he has felt the hand of God. From afar his fellow monarchs of interpretation divine traveled to ease his lament.

And so, to Justify the ways of God Eliphaz the Temanite spoke:

“Job, your lamentations and despair, while understandable because you are human, are below you. Of all the men that circle this campfire, you are the one who best comprehends the ways of God and acts accordingly. Can you not realize that your cries of injustice are unfounded? You are but a man. And in comparison

24 Nicholas Shaman

with the Almighty, you are wrong. “There is no question or doubt that God is perfect. God is the only thing that is perfect. Therefore, when in conflict with him, when in disagreement with him, all else is wrong. This conclusion need not be reached through reason alone. All we need is to view the folly of man’s history to see that this is so. “Let me tell you the story, recorded first by the scribes of heaven, of man’s first imperfection. Before the creation of Eden and man, God resided in Heaven, surrounded by his hosts of angels. All were happy and content with the existence God provided them. But as is his way, the Lord with ultimate kindness, created Adam and the race of men. “Perturbed by this new creation, Satan and his horde made the first transgression. With angelic heresy, they believed themselves to be the best of God’s creations. Jealousy and hatred sprung forth and horns took the place of halos. As you can see Job, man’s very existence is the cause of the angel’s fall. Mankind created Hell and we suffer the consequences for it. “Now Job, let us move just a bit further in the history of transgression. Our forbearers, Adam and Eve, were given Heaven on earth. Free to do whatever they wished, all but one exception. That exception is now our fall. “I do not want you to believe that man is inherently flawed. We are a shadow of perfection, but a shadow is all. As bright as the sun shines, God is brighter. As searing hot as fire can be, God is hotter. God is all and is better than all. “Sitting here, scraping your boils, how can you entertain the notion that you are not in the wrong. God cannot be the reason for your suffering; therefore, you are. The height of human achievement is insignificant compared to God. “Omnipotentence, Omniscience, Omnipresence. Ask yourself Job: which of these can you achieve? Can you breathe life into dust? Can you know of the far expanse of existence? Can you ever reach the sun? “Humble yourself, Job. “For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Kneel before the magnificence of the Lord and repent any transgression you have made. Your integrity, righteousness, and humility will receive you into his arms once more. Repent.”

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Unwilling to accept the terms his devout friend set, Job cried out once more, now blaming God for his troubles.

Heavily distraught from the sins coming from the lips of Job, Bildad the Shuhite excused the Lord:

“Job, my thoughts of God differ from our outspoken friend. You say you have done nothing wrong. Aside from God, only you can know if sin has entered your heart. But do not curse God, praise Him and rejoice in your likenessto Him. “Scholars have debated since the beginning of time about the character of God. How can one understand the unknown? Humans are not perfect; we owe our thanks to Eve for that. We can only know one thing about the Almighty. He is Omnipotent, all powerful; He can do all. “I have long wondered what is meant by that phrase in relation to God. As I comprehend it, he contains the capacity to do anything. “Eliphaz claims we were the cause of the rift in Heaven. Man did nothing; Satan is God’s first failure. Within Satan, existed the capability to sin and to blaspheme. God knew that Satan could sin; He created the angel as such., just as He put within man a weakness to fall to seduction. God can do anything, even fail. “Our heritage tells us we were made in the image of our maker. How are we alike? Does God possess four limbs? Perhaps He has a head of hair? Does He resemble an ancient scribe, dressed in robes with a long white beard? Too many people ask how we resemble the Almighty. I ask how He resembles us. “After The Lord spent six days forging the cosmos from noth- ingness, He rested. That day of rest we still hold in honor of His weakness. Even God requires relaxation after such an immense task. Could a mortal ever create a world? That answer is no, but after six days of work, we enjoy the rest as well. Weakness, Failure; Characteristics we cannot dismiss of God. He can be all. “When His son came down to Earth, to unlock the gates of Heaven, we were able to comprehend the Almighty more completely. The Omnipotent is Father, Son and a Holy Spirit. If a third of

26 Nicholas Shaman

God is Man, what portion of Man is God? I know it is unfair of me, Job, to ask you all these questions, but I wish to help you recognize your own folly. Understand that you must revel in the connection you have with God. He leaves for us enough to know Him enough to praise Him. “Our predecessors conceded too early in their pursuit of joy. They say that God walks a mysterious path. But all paths have a destination, Job. We can reach Him, though perhaps not by the same path He takes, but we can reach Him. We must continue with our blind struggle. We cannot admit defeat when dumbfounded by the magnificence of God. We must take what is given to us and forge our own paths to salvation. “Take up the reins of your chariot, Job. Whip the horses of courage, integrity, hope, and faith. You may lose sight of the angel- drawn carriage, but do not despair. Push on forward; never lose sight of your destination, Job. Accept that God is more like you than you realize and the destination will find you. Peace and contentment will settle in your heart and He can finally enter.”

Disheartened still, Job despaired for he realized now that all was hopeless. Fate toyed with his soul, taking sadistic pleasure at his misfortune.

Shocked at his disposition, Zophar the Nammathite, chided Job with a story of old:

“Job, why do you say such things? You claim that fate is the cause of your misery. Our two friends, while mistaken about the true ways of God, have not been as misguided as you. Do you forget the greatest gift that God gave man? Free Will. We make the choices of our life, Job, not Fate. Allow me to tell you why. “As said our friend, Bildad, The Lord made the world in six days, taking Gis rest on the seventh. During that week, Ge created the two forces whose interplay now manages the world: Free Will and Fate. Since God is not one to play favorites with equally created forces, He let the two decide their own domains in the newly created world.

27 The Journal of the Core Curriculum

“And as the Almighty continued with His creative activities, Fate and Free Will carved out their portions of existence. In an effort to exert its value for God’s plan, Fate spoke up. ‘If the world submit- ted to my power, all would follow the Lord’s plan with ease. None would need worry about transgression, none would need fear doing the wrong thing. I can make sure that all choices are correct and heaven is filled with splendor. Suffering would not exist because I could deem it so. A perfect world would be my gift to God.’ Disagreeing with the words of Fate, Free Will made its plea. ‘What would be the purpose of God’s creations, if choices were not presented them? I can take all of existence and put true worth to it. If everything had choice, choice could define everything. The Lord’s will is important, that is without question. But the ability to choose will create a meaning for God’s will in all His creations.’ This debate lasted for a whole day before a conclusion was reached. Through reason and grace, each force of God saw merit in each other and decided to divide their sovereignty over existence. Fate would control nature: the movement of the sky, water, earth, creatures, and plants. Free Will would reign over mankind. Free Will would give men the ability to choose their action and reaction, to God and nature. “You may be asking, Job, why is this important? You could attribute your misfortune to acts of Fate. I would not argue this point. You do have choices, Job. The ability to decide still resides within you. Do you sit here in despair and lamentation? Or do you stand up and continue to worship the Lord regardless of your sorrow? Do you curse God? Or do you praise the Almighty? These are choices Job and you make them. Fate will still go on, but if you decide to give up choice, it is your fault, not Fate’s. Free Will has given you a gift, but you must accept it. Fate will continue its rule over the uncontrollable aspects of your life, but Free Will cannot take its hold over your life if you do not give it its due. Make your choice, Job.”

Innocence held stubbornly in the heart of Job. Refusing to believe that he was in the wrong, Job demanded:

“I made my choice long ago, Zophar. I chose to worship the Almighty.

28 Nicholas Shaman

I chose to turn away from evil and humbly accept the Lord.

Be it Fate or God, I suffer unjustly for my services and life were His, but He took everything from me without reason or purpose.

Alike am I to the Almighty? Bildad, you do me wrong by making this assumption of arrogance. Never have I failed God,

Why should I accept His failure regarding me? The difference I see between God and me Is I try to never fail and to only do right.

I see in my heart no wrong Eliphaz. Guilt does not exist in my soul. Yet still, I suffer at his unjust hands. Where is the perfection in my suffering?

I have no more questions for you, three friends. No more desires from you three fiends. Nothing have you given. All you do is push me further into despair.

I want justice from the Lord. I know I have done no wrong. Where is your proclamation of innocence in this matter?

No more speeches or excuses. Right now, without delay Answer Me, God.”

As if the question was still unasked, Job received his answer.

29 The Journal of the Core Curriculum

Silenced and humbled, there were no more questions.

The four consolers left for their own lands, ashamed at their blasphemous responses for their answers could not approach the glory of the response which was just made known.

And so Job left his sullen seat to continue his life contented. His future life unknown and unimportant For when his question was asked,

God came. Not with a tempest or storm; There was no thunderous voice; No chariot surrounded by Angels; Trumpets did not call; Choirs did not sing; There were no brilliant lights; No part of the Earth trembled; The sky did not split open; Fire did not consume a bush; The only thing that happened was God came.

With a power, which only the Lord of Heaven could use, God to Job gave his answer. He did not accuse or reprimand. There was no long speech filled with almighty claims. The ability and power that God possesses left Job aghast and awed. It was the answer which struck dumb the campfire court. The answer which was all that is God, all God’s reasons and actions, eternity and infinity, bound by God alone. “Love.”

30 Jon Wooding

Odysseus J ON W OODING

The boiling city frustrated in tears has no analog here. The fathers of the bastards at my table were my friends. Against the darkness of my mind a sharp red blade burns a still hand, held too tight. The skin will blister; flesh dies but now must mend. Their tepid blood will soothe my wounds and stain my hands. To you, I am the ancient man. With the dog, I block the stairs And ignorant, you eat my food and drink my wine. More than my wife, you lust for all I left behind. I kept her deep in silent pain while I drank down a paradise. Now she has set the challenge to them. Swine follows swine, each trying to best my bow. There is no wine that makes a man this strong. All snarl at the confounding bough. The axes stand inviolate; you jeer as I rise. Faces half-hidden by cups, you laugh as the old man presumes, tries to straighten, grasps bow and string with knotted hands, and shakes from ankle to brow. Something in me yet is harder than anything you’ll ever know. Your fathers once took me for a brother. You have stained my home. My mind is seasoned cypress. Silence and purpose glove my hands; Stock still, the bow bends to revenge. I am tranquil as the sea before Poseidon leaves his throne, the axe-heads thirst for the force of my bow. My dart will burst their necks like grapes. Then my eyes will meet your own, my back will seem much straighter, my head not so low. Age will fall away, and each will know my hour has passed, but theirs has come.

31 The Journal of the Core Curriculum Subjectivity and Happiness

D REW L OVE

But one can do more than that; one can how this failure results in his unhappi- try to re-create the world, to build up in ness. King Lear’s desire revolves around its stead another world in which its his love for Cordelia. In comparison to most unbearable features are eliminated all things, he “loved her most” and replaced by others that are in con- (Shakespeare I.i.126). Lear, however, formity with one’s wishes. never gets the chance to live out his life -Sigmund Freud with his beloved Cordelia. After Lear discovers that she has been hanged by he theme of happiness is Edmund’s orders, he says, “she lives. If prevalent in the works of it be so, / It is a chance which does King Lear, Paradise Lost, and redeem all sorrows / That ever I have Don Quixote. In these texts, felt” (V.iii.268-70). In other words, Tthe happiness of each character rests Cordelia is so important to Lear that her upon a multi-tiered structure that is life will justify every sorrow he has ever composed of three principles: a subjec- experienced. Her death, however, is per- tive reality that fulfills desire, the feasi- manent, and it leaves him incapable of bility of fulfilling desire, and the subse- fulfilling his most profound desire, the quent fulfillment of that desire. affections of her love. Realizing that he Exploring these three principles in the cannot fulfill his desire, Lear’s unhappi- reverse order allows one to understand ness becomes so intense that he dies. the importance of each and ultimately, Lucifer, unlike Lear, desires power how each character’s unhappiness can more than people. Milton describes him be traced back to his subjective reality. as “aspiring / To set himself in Glory First, one must explore each char- above his Peers, / He trusted to have acter’s failure to fulfill his desire, and equall’d the most High” (Milton 6, 40).

32 Drew Love

Lucifer’s ambitious drive for power He says that if Don Quixote loses to leads him to formulate a plan that will him in battle, then Quixote must do subvert the authority of God. In the what the knight orders. Specifically, the execution of his plan, he tempts Adam knight tells Don Quixote that he must and Eve to disobey God so that he can “put aside your arms, stop looking for “interrupt his joy / In our Confusion, adventures, go back to your village for a and our Joy upraise / In his distur- year and stay there without ever touch- bance” (38, 371-2). Despite the success ing your sword” (927). Don Quixote of Satan’s plan, he is still forced to admit accepts the challenge, and shortly there- that God is more powerful than he is. after, loses to the knight. Don Quixote His first admission occurs shortly after believes that, as a knight errant, he is arriving in the Garden of Eden. Satan duty bound to uphold his promise. reflects upon his rebellion in heaven and After realizing that he must abstain blames “Pride and worse Ambition from all other duties of knight errantry, [which] threw me down / Warring in “Don Quixote stayed in bed for six Heav’n against Heav’n’s matchless days, dejected, depressed, broody, and in King” (81, 40-1). His first admission of the worst of spirits” (931). His depres- God’s superiority as a ‘matchless King,’ sion, undoubtedly, must stem from his causes Satan to cry out “Me miserable! inability to fulfill his greatest desire, Which way shall I fly / Infinite wrath, being a knight errant. So, in an ironic and infinite despair?” (81, 73-4). Satan turn of events, Don Quixote’s duty as a admits God’s superiority a second time knight errant bound him to an oath that when he returns to Hell following his prevents him from fulfilling the other successful temptation of Adam and duties of knight errantry. Unable to ful- Eve. After delivering a victory speech to fill his greatest desire for an entire year, the denizens of Hell, Satan is trans- he becomes horribly unhappy and dies formed into “a monstrous Serpent on shortly after returning to La Mancha. his Belly prone, / Reluctant, but in vain, As the first principle has shown, a greater power / Now Rul’d him” (242, each character becomes unhappy 514-6). In his acquiescence of God’s because he are unable to fulfill his superior power, Lucifer’s “triumph desires. In the essay “Happiness” by Dr. [turns] to shame” (243, 546) as he is John Kekes, happiness is defined as the reminded, once again, that he cannot “satisfaction of many important wants” fulfill his desire to overpower God. (360). Regarding happiness as merely Don Quixote is different in that he the fulfillment of wants, however, is a desires neither people nor power. superficial analysis of a rather complex Instead, he desires to “become a knight idea. In order to reach a more profound errant” (Cervantes 27). The Knight of understanding of happiness, one must the White Moon, however, prevents ask: why is each character unable to ful- Don Quixote from fulfilling his desire. fill his desires? The answer takes one

33 The Journal of the Core Curriculum

34 Drew Love

beyond the limitations of the character Quixote’s desire is not ‘free of internal and into the formation of the desire defects.’ However, it is not one that is itself. When analyzed, each character’s covered by Kekes in his essay on happi- desire reveals itself to be inherently ness. The internal defect of Don flawed. This results in the subsequent Quixote’s desire is that it is potentially impossiblity of that desire’s fulfillment. self-defeating. He is bound by chivalry The internal defect in Lear’s desire to uphold his promise to the Knight of is that it is only “capable ...of transi- the White Moon. His promise, however, tory satisfactions” (Kekes 372). It can is to refrain from all other duties of only be satisfied as long as Cordelia knight errantry for one year. Thus, in an remains alive. The moment that ironic turn of events, Don Quixote has Cordelia dies she becomes incapable of sworn as a knight errant to refrain from loving her father. Once she is incapable all other acts of knight errantry. As one of loving her father, Lear’s desire to be can see, the desire to be a knight errant loved by Cordelia is impossible to satis- has the slim, yet tangible potential of fy. Lear’s desire to be loved by a tran- being a self-defeating desire. sient entity (Cordelia) creates an internal After inquiring into the internal defect in his desire that leads to its even- defects of desire and discovering how tual inability to be fulfilled. they prevent fulfillment, one must won- While Lear’s desire is fulfilled, but der how the third principle, subjective then eventually left unfulfilled, Lucifer reality, influences happiness. In order to never fulfills his desire. According to the answer that question one must first list of internal defects, Lucifer’s desire is define it and then apply it to each of the defective because “it is impossible [to three characters’ lives. Only then will its fulfill]” (371). Lucifer desires to super- central importance become evident. sede God’s place as the most powerful Any attempt to define subjective entity. His desire is impossible to fulfill reality must also define objective reality. because God is omnipotent (Milton 6, The definition of both is essential for 49). How could Lucifer, who clearly has formulating the definition of either, limited amounts of power, hope to sur- because they are the two aspects of a pass the abilities of an all-powerful larger idea, reality itself. In his essay being? Lucifer’s desire is internally “What is Reality?,” David G. Ritchie defective because his finite powers will defines objective reality as “that which never be able surpass the infinite power has a validity or possible validity for the of God. minds of several persons who can agree Finally, Kekes believes that Don as to the content of their mental experi- Quixote has “a life-plan . . . [that is] free ence” (267). In other words, objective of internal defects . . . yet . . . unrealiz- reality is what a group of people all able due to its context” (372); this con- believe to be real. The flaw with clusion, however, is faulty. Don Ritchie’s definition of objective reality is

35 The Journal of the Core Curriculum

that it is not objective. The objective because he “loved her most” reality he is describing is completely (Shakespeare VIII.i.125), and he dependent upon the beliefs of a group believes himself when he says Cordelia of people; it has neither an external nor is “gone for / ever / . . . She’s dead as unbiased origin. It is more like a defini- earth” (142, 261-3). This leads him to tion for the communal sense of subjec- believe that his desire for Cordelia’s life, tive reality than it is of objective reality. matched with her subsequent death, will Ritchie’s subjective reality, however, lead him to an unhappy life of unful- is more logical. Each character’s subjec- filled desire. Subjective reality, however, tive reality is the sum of his thoughts. which is the “ultimate reality [because it] The subjective reality is built upon three is thought”(Ritchie 283), implies that ideas. It is composed of the idea of Lear, in a sense, chooses his unhappi- what is real, the manner in which one’s ness. He chooses unhappiness in that thoughts relate to reality, and finally the his subjective reality accepts his desire subjectivity of those thoughts, that is, for Cordelia and then accepts Cordelia’s the personal nature in which they relate death. If King Lear did not believe that to the individual. Subjective reality is both of those statements were true, real in the sense that “whatever is truly then he would not be unhappy. It is only in any one’s experience and is not false- because he believes both factors to be ly alleged to be so”(265) and it relates to true that he becomes unhappy. one’s thoughts in that “ultimate reality is Lucifer, more so than Lear, shows thought”(283). It is subjective because it potential to create a subjective reality is the character’s own thoughts. that will fulfill his desires. He originally Synthesizing the ideas of what is real believes that “The mind is its own place, (265) and the relationship between and in itself / Can make a Heav’n of thought and reality (283), one can con- Hell, a Hell of Heav’n” (Milton 12, 223- clude that subjective reality is composed 5). His original faith in the powers of of the thoughts that the individual the subjective mind eventually disinte- believes to be true. Now, one can take grates. He later believes that he “is Hell; the definition of subjective reality and myself am Hell” (81, 74) and that he can apply it to each character in order to see no longer “subdue / Th’Omnipotent” its influence upon his happiness. (82, 85-86). Lucifer’s subjective reality The true source of King Lear’s instills truth within each statement unhappiness is neither Cordelia’s death, because he believes them true. If his nor the internal defect in King Lear’s subjective reality were to remain in its desire for her life. Instead, all of his original state, he might have been able unhappiness can be attributed to his to find happiness within his own mind. subjective reality—the collection of As things are, he accepts his own inferi- thoughts that Lear believes is true. He ority and damnation as indisputable believes he desires Cordelia’s love truths created by his subjective reality.

36 Drew Love

Don Quixote, more than Lucifer or truth and happiness under the terms of King Lear, had the most potential to be some consensual standard. Instead, one happy because his subjective reality was should exercise the formative powers of the most resistant to the external world. subjective reality and define the world He believes so strongly in chivalry on one’s own terms. After all, it is not books that they “established [them- just beauty that is in the eye of the selves] . . . in his mind that no history in beholder, but happiness as well. the word was truer for him” (Cervantes 27). He’s also able to transform nearly BIBLIOGRAPHY every failure he encounters into a suc- Cervantes, Miguel. Don Quixote. cess. When he is hurt, he says “wounds Trans. John Rutherford. New received in battle do not detract from York: Penguin Books, 2000. honour, but bestow it” (121). When he Kekes, John. “Happiness.” Mind, New is forced to accept that he is attacking Series. Vol. 91, No. 363. July 1982: windmills instead of giants, he says 371-372. “Freston . . . has just turned these giants Milton, John. Paradise Lost & Paradise into windmills”(64), and in this way Regained. Ed. Christopher Ricks. incorporates the windmills into his New York: Penguin Books, 1968. quest for adventure. Ritchie, David G. “What is Reality?” Don Quixote, like Lucifer and King The Philosophical Review. Volume Lear, does eventually become unhappy. 1, No. 3. May 1892: 265,267, 283 The breakdown in his subjective reality, Shakespeare, William. King Lear. however, is predictable. Don Quixote Russell Fraser. New York: Penguin begins his journeys by seeing giants and Books, 1963. armies where there were only windmills and sheep. Later on in his adventures, he accepts the fulling-hammers without delusion: “when Don Quixote saw what it was he fell silent and stiffened from top to toe” (162-3). Cervantes explains Don Quixote’s deterioration by saying “what is human is not eternal, but is in continuous decline from its beginnings to its conclusion” (975). Maybe even subjective reality, despite its incredible power, is destined to decline over time. If there is anything to be learned from the characters of these books, perhaps it is that one should not spend so much time trying to define the ideals of

37 The Journal of the Core Curriculum

Berlinische Monatsschrift SPRING 2005 Letters & Opinion THE CORE JOURNAL

Rousseau does not fit into Kant’s scheme at all. Rousseau Vereinbarung! seems to be a very emotional man, and one who doesn’t feel A discerning reader comments on the need to censor himself. In fact, some of his most famous the concord between Immanuel Kant words are, “I felt before I thought” (Rousseau 19). Kant, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. in a 1784 essay, emphasized the Boston, Massachusetts, Vereinte Staaten importance of a man “making use of his own reason” (Kant come together with others pub- 59). Thus, it would seem that an Dear Editor: licly and discuss their emotion’s emotional man like Rousseau Immanuel Kant, while and thoughts to better under- would have no place in Kant’s employed by your newspaper, stand them. Also, a great deal view on enlightenment, which wrote an article elucidating his of logical thinking places so much value ideals of enlightenment. I am in should be gathered on being reasonable strong support of the ideas he and used by all and logical abided by, and so is Jean-Jacques participants to through action. Rousseau. Although Rousseau’s improve What most personality and confessions themselves people usually seem to oppose some of Kant’s and the overlook, more specific claims about what community however, is enlightenment should stand for, around that Rousseau’s methodology sup- them. Rousseau’s ports Kant’s most salient values. Freedoms, opinions These include certain social especially and practices freedoms, and the concept of within the actually solid- self-understanding. realm of reli- ify Kant’s I believe that enlightenment gion, are ideas. should incorporate a strong bal- extremely The first area ance between a private life and a important for in which both men public life. In the private life, a enlightenment. These draw similarities is person abides to the rules of his ideas are similar to those found in the idea of self- job, and remains relatively quiet of Kant. In order to see how sufficiency, which ties equally on issues he might disagree Rousseau also illuminates into self-understanding. At the with. In the public life, he is free Kant’s values, the two men must beginning of his essay Kant to voice his opinions to others. be compared more thoroughly. Enlightened thinkers should At first, it would seem that Cont. KELSEY page 2

LETTER TO BERLINISCHE MONATSSCHRIFT - M ATTHEW KELSEY

38 Matthew Kelsey

SEITE ZWEI Here, Rousseau portrays an passage reads, “Now that I was KELSEY from 1 astute understanding of all the free and my own master, I sup- opposing characteristics he car- posed that I could do anything, writes, “Enlightenment is ried as a child. This places achieve anything. I had only to mankind’s exit from self- emphasis on the ideas both take one leap, and I could rise incurred immaturity. Kant and Rousseau support and fly through the air” (52). Immaturity is the inability to regarding the understanding of Rousseau has found the ulti- make use of one’s own under- one’s own mind. mate connection between self- standing without the guidance Without having people to sufficiency and the freedom it of another” (58). To add to his force limits on Kant and offers to a self-reliant person. value of relying on one’s self- Rousseau, they become exam- While Kant and Rousseau may sufficiency, Kant writes, “Have ples for their next shared value: disagree on the appropriate set- the courage to use your own freedom. Kant believed that a ting for a person to use his free- understanding! is thus the man should be able to speak his dom, they are both in strong motto of enlightenment” (58). mind, but only in public arenas. agreement on the idea that free- Kant believes that an enlight- Kant explains that a priest doms are vital in the life of ened man is one who can work should not challenge the church men. on his own mind, with his own during a sermon, but “as a Though Rousseau and Kant mind. Rousseau also believes scholar he has the complete have some differences between that men are their own largest freedom . . . to communicate . . them, they are more similar than obstacles from gaining enlight- . his proposals for a better most people might understand. enment, or leading a virtuous arrangement of religious and Both advocate self-sufficiency life. On this idea, he writes, ecclesiastical affairs” (60). Thus and self-understanding. Also, “Virtue is only difficult through Kant believes that a man has a both believe that freedoms are our own fault” (69). However, right to challenge a certain com- important to use at certain Rousseau also understands that munity once he is out in society, points in society. a disciplined self will make for a and away from his job. Kant and I have similar more virtuous and enlightened Rousseau does actually oppose points on the topic of enlight- mind. This disciplined self this idea in that he willingly enment, and Rousseau is impor- comes only through under- challenges the church while tak- tant in that he exemplifies the standing of the self. Rousseau’s ing lessons from a priest in the values we share. entire book of confessions church. However, Rousseau and seems to be a collective Kant still agree that there Sincerely, reminder of his willingness to should be an emphasis on free- confront and understand his dom in the first place. He may Matthew Kelsey every emotion and action. On be in too private of a setting for the topic of his own feelings Kant’s taste, but by using logic and thoughts, Rousseau writes: to search for a better religion between Catholicism and Bibliography! Such were the first affections Protestantism, Rousseau is pre- Kant, Immanuel. An Answer of my dawning years; and scribing to the use of his own thus there began to form in understanding, and is abiding to to the Question: What is me, or to display itself for Kant’s idea that the freedom of Enlightenment? What is the first time, a heart at once speech is the most important Enlightenment. ed. James proud and affectionate, and a freedom. Kant calls the free- Schmidt. University of character at once effeminate dom to use reason for others’ California Press: Berkeley, and inflexible, which by benefits the “most harmless 1996. always wavering between form of all things that may be Rousseau, Jean-JJacques. The weakness and courage, called freedom” (59). Separate Confessions. ed. J.M. Cohen. between self-indulgence and from religion or society, where Penguin Books: London, virtue, has throughout my the two writers cross paths, 1953. life set me in conflict with Rousseau upheld all other free- myself (23). doms. A pertinent Rousseau

39 The Analects Of Core Y EAR 1

“The punishment should always fit the crime. Let him who has performed an evil act be punished for the act. Let not the flood be brought down on the heads of all for what one man has done.” -Ea, Gilgamesh

“If you yearn for philosophy, prepare at once to be met with ridicule.” -Epictetus, The Encheiridion

“Eppur si muove.” -Galileo Galilei

“Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” -Genesis 21.5-6

“It seemed to them a mark of honour to our soldiers who have fallen in war that a speech should be made over them. I do not agree . . . Our belief in the courage and manliness of so many should not be hazarded on the goodness or badness of one man’s speech.” -Pericles, History of the Peloponnesian War

40 The Analects

“As for the lover of wisdom . . . what do we suppose he will hold about the other pleasures as compared with that of knowing the truth ...? Won’t he hold them to be far behind in pleasure?” -Socrates, The Republic of Plato “Writing marched together with weapons, microbes, and centralized political organization as a modern agent of conquest.” -Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all the people.” -John 1.1-4 “Those who are equal must respect the principle of equality by giving equal affection to one another . . . while those who are unequal must make a return proportionate to their superiority or inferiority.” -Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics “The Master said, A gentleman takes as much trouble to discover what is right as lesser men take to discover what will pay.” -Confucius, The Analects “ . . . to this brief waking-time that still is left/ unto your senses, you must not deny/ experience of that which lies beyond/ the sun, and of the world that is unpeopled.” -Odysseus, The Inferno “A thousand-mile journey Begins with a single step.” -Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

41 The Journal of the Core Curriculum Reflections Upon Pierre Bayle*

J OSEPH J EROME

he Wars of Religion had left vernacular of Europe, but its day at Europe a bloody, chaotic Court was not yet to be heard. Pierre mess. Catholics and Bayle would wage a tirelessly campaign Protestants had, for eighty to change this state of affairs. One of Tlong years, slaughtered each other in the the forefathers of the great Enlightened name of God and, perhaps more Age, he would spend his life in exile, importantly, in the name of whatever advocating religious toleration and, as king led them into battle. With nothing Keith Botsford would say, simple polite to show but terrified converts, the conversation. As a refugee in Holland, European Powers concluded that a sus- Monsieur Bayle became a de facto news tained campaign of religious fanaticism reporter as editor of News of the had not been in anyone’s best interest. Republic of Letters, which gained him So in 1648 the Treaty of Westphalia resources to create the most influential finally recognized the obvious, that dif- collection of evaluated and thoroughly ferent sovereignties existed in Europe. criticized philosophical thought of the Thus the Western world established that time: his Historical and Critical “the nation-state would be the highest Dictionary. level of government, subservient to no Religious tolerance, or rather intol- others.”1 Protestant and Catholic erance I should say, is where our reflec- domains would suffer each other’s exis- tions on the man must begin. Monsieur tence, but the religious biases that had Bayle was a man of many words and it caused the eighty years of violence most is with many of his words that we will certainly had not been defeated. The set the stage of all that is to follow: doctrine of toleration had come into the If each religion adopted the spirit of tol- *(and how he waged war against religious intolerance in his chief publications)

42 Joseph Jerome

erance that I recommend, there would be the Treaty of Westphalia, breaking such the same concord in a state with ten reli- a pledge could also result in all the gions as in a city in which different arti- sans and craftsmen mutually support one armies of Europe marching on your another. The most that could happen doorstep. With the treaty in place, Bayle, would be honest rivalry outdoing one born a year before it in 1647, was to another in piety, good conduct and learn that the rise of the nation-state knowledge [ ...] It is only because [religion] wants to exercise cruel tyranny would allow his king, Louis XIV, to do over men’s minds and force others to act whatever he pleased within his domain. against their conscience; because kings Thus, the king slowly but surely foment this unjust partiality and lend began to unravel the religious peace his secular force to the furious and tumultuous desires of a populace of monks grandfather had established. He burned and clerics; in short the whole disorder down Huguenot churches and offered springs not from toleration but from financial rewards for Protestant nobles non-toleration . . . 2 to return to his Court at Versailles. As The king this passage subtly hints at is for Monsieur Bayle, he was “an odd none other than that hopeful absolute man out in every sense of the term. sovereign of France, Louis XIV, the There [could] hardly have been a greater self-proclaimed Sun King. Our story handicap to be born, as he was, provin- thus begins in France, the great Catholic cial, poor, and last—but not least— 4 power of the age, where it was decided Protestant.” The stage was suitably set that the Protestant Huguenots, while for religion to play a dominant force for not worth further war, had no right to all his life. Born a Protestant, he con- remain in the kingdom of the Roman verted to Catholicism after being bested religion. His lordship had long wished in a religious debate with a Jesuit priest. to purge his lands of all that was not But he soon regretted his decision and Catholic. However, he was hampered by became what the French authorities the work of his grandfather, Henri IV, a called a “relapse,” a dangerous label to 5 Catholic in name only, who in 1598 had have. With the Edict rapidly losing in 1598 promulgated the Edict of power, by this point, it was a crime to Nantes. A response to decades of reli- convert back to Protestantism, and, say- gious violence, the edict allowed the ing forever farewell to his family, he fled Huguenots the often taken for granted France for Rotterdam, in the right simply to exist. Louis XIV desired Netherlands, in 1681. There he stum- to revoke this decree, but the guarantee bled upon a largely titular position as a “that the Edict was valid in perpetuity chair of history and philosophy for and would never be revoked” was, Rotterdam’s École Illustre, a poorly paid unfortunately for the Sun King, “backed position that, nonetheless, allowed Bayle to do what he wished with a minimum by the Crown’s solemn pledge.”3 Now, it was never a good thing for a king to amount of official responsibilities. break his pledge, but, especially before From this vantage point, he

43 The Journal of the Core Curriculum

watched Louis XIV destroy the protec- more and more knowledge. The man tions of the Edict and eventually revoke hoarded books, reading and acquiring as it in 1685, sending upwards of a million many as he could. His educational back- French Huguenots out of the country. ground, it must be acknowledged, The implications of this action would played a large role in the tone of his be immense. This exodus of talent writings. He was a playful writer, often might, I may add, have been partially writing serious essays in the form of responsible not only for the coming easy-going letters. Compared to the French Revolution but also for the rise dense, complicated treatises of his time, of Prussian dominance on the conti- Elisabeth Labrousse notes that Bayle nent. This, however, is an entirely dif- wrote “as people often talk, haphazard- ferent story, and what we are focusing ly, sharing his knowledge and the things on is how Monsieur Bayle ushered in that amuse him, as well as his doubts the Age of Reason. He, along with and his indignation, with his readers.”7 many other refugees, thought his exile His writings are approachable and easy from France was only a temporary con- to digest; he was crafting works dition, and he and his contemporaries designed for mass consumption, making took advantage of the liberal Dutch him a founder of modern intellectual government to wage a war of letters journalism. against the not-so-liberal French gov- His career, however, was to begin ernment. Bayle, in particular, saw the anonymously when, in 1682, he pub- Revocation (of the Edict of Nantes) as lished the first edition of what became “an instance of grotesque intolerance known as Miscellaneous Thoughts on based on moral and logical absurdity. the Comet of 1680. Aware of the poten- The greater part of his life’s work tial harm his family in France could suf- [should be] understood as Bayle’s fer if his authorship was known, attempt to lay bare the absurdity repre- Monsieur Bayle tried as hard as possible sented by this event.”6 to disguise his works. In his Monsieur Bayle’s writings reflect Miscellaneous Thoughts, we begin to how unorganized his education had learn of Bayle’s two “paradoxes:” 1) been. Despite his work ethic and desire atheists do less evil to God than idol- to read, our subject was handicapped by aters because they do not corrupt him a sub-par educational experience. Yes, nor are atheists inherently without he read Montaigne and the classics, but, virtue, 2) a truly Christian society would being a poor Protestant, his reading was be unable to exist in our world of vio- without organization and he was com- lence and conquest. While he was, in pletely devoid of an appreciation for the fact, only suggesting what time has sciences. He spent his life quite bitter proven to be true, these doctrines gave about his educational deficiencies, but it many fanatics the impression that Bayle did fuel his life-long desire to acquire was an atheist, an unbeliever, and a rad-

44 Joseph Jerome

ical. But he was none of these things. distinguished contemporary John Locke No, Bayle was, like many of his era, a (who had fled from England during the Cartesian, although he was neither inter- political upheavals in the years before ested in Descartes’ abstractions nor able the Glorious Revolution of 1688). Even to truly understand Descartes by over- “the Royal Society of England request- coming his own mathematical igno- ed an interchange with the author” of rance.* Instead, the Cartesian method so noteworthy a publication.10 Indeed, turned him into a profound skeptic; as Bayle’s journal sought to unite all the “the greatest lesson Bayle learned from citizens of a Republic of Letters, it had Cartesianism was to rid himself of a such a profound impact on his genera- naïve trust in first impressions.”8 He tion and the next that the title came to became obsessed with historical accura- embody the very meaning of the cy and seeing things for how they really Enlightenment. For the next hundred were—a skill that aided immensely years, it became fashionable to say that when he compiled his Historical and the vast network of correspondence Critical Dictionary. Meanwhile, his that made up the Enlightenment was philosophy and desire for a peaceful truly the Republic of Letters. It was, as coexistence with Catholicism and a uni- Keith Botsford would say, a republic “in versal toleration gained him enemies which all writers are equal citizens in among his supposed allies. that [they are] readers of what their fel- He began extensively putting forth low-citizens have written.”11 Bayle ush- such a philosophy when, in 1684, he ered in an age where manuscripts, became the general editor of News of essays, and treatises were taken out of the Republic of Letters (Nouvelles de la secret vaults and handed ‘round for all République des Lettres en français). The to read. journal, one of the first learned publica- But despite the recognition the tions of its kind, was a collection of journal brought our subject, his work news, politics, and philosophical incited the anger of the French authori- thought clandestinely transmitted ties who, unable to apprehend Monsieur throughout all of Europe. Aside from Bayle, decided to arrest the next best being one of the first news publications thing: his brother, Jacob Bayle. The of its era, Monsieur Bayle’s journal elder brother was taken and thrown into “brought him a supply of new books prison as punishment for his and placed him at the centre of an Protestantism and, more importantly, extensive network of correspondents” his brother’s antics. There, in a cell of not only among his exiled Huguenots truly horrific dimensions, he languished but also across the continent9, from for five months before passing on to the Queen Christina of Sweden to his most next work. Pierre Bayle was horrified,

* In reality, Bayle had read extensively of Malebranche, an admirer of Descartes, but not of Descartes himself. However, Bayle (and probably most modern scholars) would be hard pressed to find a difference between the two.

45 The Journal of the Core Curriculum

mortified, and thoroughly dismayed; his encounters with religious fanatics. brother’s death shattered, once and for These fanatics, and there were many, all, Bayle’s faith in the divine. He began were jealous of his soothing ability to to question the traditional “pseudo- persuade and could not stand the fact solutions” to the problem of good and that Bayle was not calling for the head evil in the world. His hatred for reli- of Louis XIV or, rather, that he was not gious intolerance then increased by using his skill to the benefit of whatev- leaps and bounds as the journal became er group was raging against him. In fact, more militant in its coverage of reli- it was one of Monsieur Bayle’s old gious persecution across the continent, friends, Pierre Jurieu, who, prophesizing but feelings of guilt over the death of a divine retribution against the his brother eventually caused him to Catholics, became the strongest critic of give up his journal and retire from con- Bayle’s ideas. (Of course, part of his tinuous daily writing and editing. All of enmity towards Bayle may lie in our sub- this became the backdrop for the phi- ject’s quick rejection of Jurieu’s sister-in- losophy Bayle would lay forth in his law as a wife, seeking instead Historical and Critical Dictionary. “[c]omplete independence, and a life of We will see that Monsieur Bayle’s philosophical literature.”13 But I digress!) disillusionment with religion after the While Jurieu’s name would become death of his brother ran deep. His views more than meaningless in the course of were so perplexing to the religious dog- history, Bayle’s “indefatigable persecu- matists of the time, Protestants and tor, Jurieu, a sort of living personifica- Catholics alike, that Bayle “might have tion of the ‘odium theologium,’ [ ...] been a positivist, an atheist, a deist, a accused [Bayle] before the Dutch con- skeptic, a fideist, a Socinian, a liberal sistory of impiety and heresy”14 and, in Calvinist, a conservative Calvinist, a lib- 1693, had him removed from his post at ertine, a Judaizing Christian, a Judeo- the École Illustre. Christian, or even a secret Jew, a Fortunately for Monsieur Bayle, the Manichean, an existentialist” depending publisher of his various works had on your point of view.12 Assuredly, he heard of his project for a critical could not be all of these, but what is Dictionary, a plan to “detect all the most likely is that he was a somewhat of falsehoods and errors in fact, of other a loosely-practicing Calvinist who was dictionaries, and form a supplement of skeptical of the validity of many reli- their omissions under every article.”15 gions but nonetheless espoused a strong This publisher, sensing something scan- acceptance of all faiths. However, as I dalous and therefore positively prof- have hinted previously, it was this strong itable, arranged for Bayle to receive a belief in toleration that guided Bayle small annuity in order to work on such a throughout his life and, unfortunately, project. The initial proposal was to sim- was the catalyst for most of his negative ply update the Historical Dictionary by

46 Joseph Jerome

the Catholic priest Moréri, removing the words that took up the three volumes of strong Catholic bias with various other the Dictionary were not found in the additions and corrections. The original rough biographical sketches. Instead, work was simply a dictionary of biogra- the articles were used as “the starting- phical nature and Bayle’s would, on the points for a complex series of endnotes, surface, appear to have been simply sidenotes, and footnotes” that were more of the same. However, just like often many times longer than the actual the Encyclopedia that it would later text by itself.17 On paper, the inspire, Bayle’s dictionary took on a life Dictionary is a cluttered mess of of its own. First released in the fall of columns of different sizes and fonts, 1696, the Dictionnaire Historique et reading the work is a sure way to acquire Critique became an immediate success. a headache, but the way in which articles Through the addition of “critical” to and their footnotes link up together to the title, Monsieur Bayle was able to create an entire work of philosophic expound his own philosophies on most thought (admittedly wrapped around importantly, as always, religious toler- the guise of simple biographies) is ance but also many, many other things remarkable. Comparisons abound that such as: the Bayle’s ambitious setup “could rea- sonably be regarded as Western culture’s [ . . . ] superstition, prophecy, the mascu- 18 line fears of castration and impotency, first significant hypertext document.” the necessity for historical accuracy, the Hidden inside all of these little possibility of finding certitude in any of links, Monsieur Bayle began to tackle the human sciences, the power which many of the issues that would plague women wield through sex, the relationship between reason and faith, the influ- the future citizens of the Republic of ence of the Fall on human nature and all Letters. In many respects, the human activity and consequent necessity Dictionary was to become a handbook of submission to biblical revelation in for the Enlightenment. Yes, that seems every area of life. 16 a bold thing to declare, but, as Thomas Lennon reports, “shelf counts of pri- Oddly enough, reading the articles by vate libraries from the eighteenth centu- themselves would not reveal the scope ry show the Dictionnaire overwhelming of Monsieur Bayle’s thinking. From anything from the distant competition “Aaron” to “Zuylichem,” the of Locke, Newton, Voltaire, and Dictionary was the definitive seven- Rousseau.”19 While history has teenth-century “who’s who” list of embraced the works of those other philosophers, political figures, mystics, thinkers much more than it has of heretics, and biblical characters—in Bayle, it is his ideas that these later essence, every controversial figure no philosophes, enlightened monarchs, and one was ever supposed to know about. Rousseau-esque nature boys put forth; However, most of the seven million they certainly all had read him. The

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Dictionary was Bayle’s crowning He writes in the Dictionary in one of achievement and the end result of a life- his many footnotes: time spent reading and commenting on No good mother who has given her the absurdities of the world. Bayle used daughters permission to go to a ball his Dictionary to begin a discussion on would not withdraw her consent if she the place of reason versus all other top- were to know for certain that they would ics that would preoccupy thinkers for lose their virginity there, and any mother who did know that for certain, and let the next hundred years. Voltaire himself them go [ ...] would be justly convicted commented that “the greatest master of of loving neither her daughters nor the art of reasoning that ever wrote, chastity. [ ...] How unwise it is, then, to Bayle, great and wise, all systems over- argue that God was obliged to respect Adam’s free will. 22 throws.”20 In an age of religious intolerance Hence Bayle recognized, in some and radicalism, Monsieur Bayle was respects, the absurdity of religion and faced with the daunting task of explain- the injustice of it all in seventeenth cen- ing (and, indeed, attempting to cope) tury Europe. But he writes under his with the problem of evil in the world. article on Spinoza, also, and again I Exiled from his home in France, his must quote: family gone, and repeatedly criticized for not having such-and-such position [T]here are [ ...] people whose religion against Catholics or any other group, is in the heart, and not in the mind. The moment they seek it by human reason- Bayle was at a loss to understand the ing, they lose sight of it; [ ...] but as world. Certainly, as a forefather of the soon as they arguing, and simply listen to Enlightment, he attempted to reason his the evidence of their feelings, the way out of his dilemmas, but despite instinctive promptings of conscience, the legacy of their upbringing, and so on, being a “master of the art of reason- they are convinced by a religion and live ing,” even he declared that reason was their lives by it, so far as human infirmi- not in agreement with itself; that ty allows.23 “[r]eason is like a runner who doesn’t know that the race is over, or, like Certainly, he lived by this philosophy. Penelope, constantly undoing what it Monsieur Bayle, a quiet bachelor and an avid bookworm, only wished peace for creates.”21 Still, as experience had shown him, religion, in the sense that the himself and for others. He tinkered with Catholics or the Protestants often prac- the Dictionary for several more years ticed it, was no better a solution. Bayle, and, responding to much criticism, put a religious man despite all I have said, forth a revised edition in December was not dogmatic in his beliefs. He rec- 1701. After the Dictionary, which, I ognized the power of evil in the world might add, was the only publication that and how that it could not be compatible ever officially carried his name, he lan- with the view of God as supreme good. guished about, debating theology and

48 Joseph Jerome

philosophy with friends in Rotterdam. His achievement complete, his death ENDNOTES came “in peculiar accordance with the 1. “Peace of Westphalia,” Wikipedia: tranquility of his temper, and the priva- The Free Encyclopedia, 11 Apr. 2004, cy of his habits” when, one morning, he 25 Apr.-3 May 2004 quietly asked if “his fire had been light- 2. Isaac Kramnick, ed. The Portable ed, and died the next moment, without Enlightenment Reader (New York: apparent pain or struggle of any kind, at Penguin, 1995) 79. the age fifty-nine years, one month, and 3. Elisabeth Labrousse, Bayle, trans. ten days.”24 Denys Potts (Oxford: Oxford Pierre Bayle spent the entirety of University Press, 1983) 2. his life advocating only that people be 4. Labrousse 12. allowed to believe what they wish. In 5. James Schmidt, “Europe in the the place of blind faith and political 1680s: The Protestant Crisis & The oppression, he sought to establish a Glorious Revolution,” lecture, community, his Republic of Letters, to European Enlightenment (Boston discuss the serious issues of the day as University: Boston, 16 Sep. 2003). they would be discussed in a reading 6. Thomas M. Lennon, “Pierre Bayle,” room after a dinner. His writing was so Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. clear and yet ambiguously open to inter- 7. Labrousse 11. pretation that his good intentions have 8. Ibid. 50. been lost behind wild accusations that 9. Alan Bailey, “Skepticism-Lecture miss his point. In seeking to report on 7c,” Alan Bailey’s Philosophy Webpage, the world as it was, as both a historian 2003, 20 Apr.-3 May 2004 and early-day reporter, Bayle is at odds 10. “Life of Bayle,” foreword, An with himself as the mild-mannered man Historical and Critical Dictionary,by of God. Many of his ideas were funda- Pierre Bayle (London: Hunt and mentally sound, but, unfortunately, the Clarke, 1826) 14. scope and breadth of his mission 11. Keith Botsford, “RE: Pierre allowed his ideas to be taken up by men Bayle,” e-mail to Joseph Jerome, 24 as different as Locke and Marx. Hence, Apr. 2004. Bayle’s ideas were used to advocate a 12. Thomas M. Lennon, “Pierre variety of positions the man would have Bayle,” Stanford Encyclopedia of never dreamed. And, unfortunately, Philosophy, 7 Feb. 2003, 20 Apr.-3 May while religious toleration eventually 2004. gained the recognition it deserved, it 13. Dictionary, 11. would take another three hundred years 14. Ibid. 21. of blood and chaos before anyone fig- 15. Ibid. 21. ured out what Pierre Bayle actually 16. Ruth Whelan, The Anatomy of meant. Superstition: A Study of the Historical

49 The Journal of the Core Curriculum

Theory and Practice of Pierre Bayle Penguin, 1995. (Oxford: The Voltaire Foundation, “Kristina Wasa, Queen of Sweden.” 25 1989) 10. Apr.-3 May 2004. 3 May 2004. Labrousse, Elisabeth. Bayle. Trans. 18. Thomas M. Lennon, Reading Denys Potts. Oxford: Oxford Bayle (Toronto: University of Toronto University Press, 1983. Press, 1999) 7. Lennon, Thomas M. “Pierre Bayle.” 19. Thomas M. Lennon, “Pierre Bayle,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Philosophy. 7 Feb. 2003. 20 Apr.-3 61. May 2004. 23. Ibid. 50. Lennon, Thomas M. Reading Bayle. 24. Dictionary, 28. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999. BIBLIOGRAPHY “Life of Bayle.” Foreword. An Bailey, Alan. “Skepticism-Lecture 7c.” Historical and Critical Dictionary Alan Bailey’s Philosophy Webpage. By Pierre Bayle. London: Hunt 2003. 20 Apr.-3 May 2004. < and Clarke, 1826. http://www.webspawner.com/user O’Cathasaigh, Sean. “Skepticism and s/alanbailey/index.html> Belief in Pierre Bayle’s: Nouvelles Botsford, Keith. “RE: Pierre Bayle.” Lettres Critiques.” Journal of the E-mail to Joseph Jerome. 24 Apr. History of Ideas, vol. 45, Jul.-Sep. 2004. 1984: p. 421-433. 13 April-3 May Goodman, Dena. The Republic of 2004. Letters: A Cultural History of the “Peace of Westphalia.” Wikipedia: The French Enlightenment. Ithaca: Free Encyclopedia 11 Apr. 2004. Cornell University Press, 1994. 25 Apr.-3 May 2004. Kemerling, Garth. “Pierre Bayle.” Apr.-3 May 2004. http://www.phi- Schmidt, James. “Europe in the 1680s: losophypages.com/ph/bayl.htm The Protestant Crisis & The Kenshur, Oscar. “Pierre Bayle and the Glorious Revolution.” Lecture. Structures of Doubt.” Eighteenth- European Enlightenment. Boston Century Studies, vol 22, Spring University, Boston. 16 Sep. 2003. 1988: p. 297-315. 13 April-3 May Whelan, Ruth. The Anatomy of 2004. Superstition: A Study of the Kramnick, Isaac, ed. The Portable Historical Theory and Practice of Enlightenment Reader. New York: Pierre Bayle. Oxford: The Voltaire

50 Kentaro Yoshida

Prof. Panurge & the Circumference of WR150

K ENTARO Y OSHIDA

antagruel is one part of The Boston University to find out . . . Histories of Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais, a mock-quest epic here were ten more minutes until Pthat parodies everything from classical Tthe start of class, and I was bored authors and higher learning to the rulers silly. I opened my undergraduate course of Rabelais’ time. Rabelais, a Franciscan bulletin and flipped to the description of monk and a Bachelor of Medicine, was the class I was taking. It read: also at the center of the humanist CAS CC 3211 The History of movement and had engaged in an Symbolic Logic Within the immense amount of learning. Ancient Philosophy of the Pantagruel follows the adventures Modern Aristotelians of of a good-natured giant named Human Nature Before the Pantagruel known for his genius and his Introduction to Ethics of Literature and Values of the advisor Panurge, a learned man who is Mind, Brain, and Self to be also gratuitously vulgar. The find them- used for Reasoning and selves in two ingenious and hilarious sit- Argumentation in the uations, which provide wry commentary Knowledge of the Arts in on the scholarly and moral life of the between Reality age. Prereq: Roughly the square root of I thought it would be interesting to one philosophy course or the cir- imagine myself in a class taught by cumference of WR 150. Panurge. What methods would he use? A study of ancient classics includ- What books would he choose? Let us ing: the Crucible of drop in on the first day of classes at Contemplation, The Nonsense of

51 The Journal of the Core Curriculum

Law, The Mustard-pot of Tardy too small, walked in. His nose was Penitence, The Thread-ball of somewhat aquiline, and the shape of a Theology, The Elephantine razor handle. He looked to be roughly Testicular of the Valiant, The Apparition of St. Geltrude to a thirty-five. I quickly noticed that his Nun of Poissy in Labour. And if hand and shirt were covered in blood, we have time, we will have an in- and he looked dazed. depth comparative analysis of A One of the students jumped out of Goad of Wine and The Spur of his seat, and said, “Professor Panurge! Cheese. The course will examine the effects of the Tail-piece of Do you need help?” To this Panurge Discipline on the sophist commu- replied, “Al barildim gotfano dech min nity. Also, we will take a close look brin alabo dordin fallbroth ringuam at the Old Shoe of Humility and albaras! Nin hur diavolth mnarbothim! its relation to the development of Nin hur! Nin hur! Nin hur!” The stu- modern cognitive science. dent faltered, and said, “Sir, I cannot Every semester there will be two understand what you say. Are you panel discussions headed by Dean speaking a human Christian language?” Semaj Nosnhoj, which will include To this Panurge responded, “Prug frest but are not limited to experts in the fields of Arseinistic reasoning fins sorgdmand! Strochdt drhds pag and thought, The Sense of Non- brlelang! Gravot! Gravot!” The student Mechanics, and the History and shook his head in frustration, and said, Expansion of the Gibberistolic “By golly, Professor Panurge! He then Era in England and America. turned helplessly toward the class and said, in confusion, “What is he saying? I closed the book and whistled in What does he need? I can’t understand a amazement. This is what made college word he’s saying! Help!” wonderful and worth the hefty tuition Upon hearing the poor student’s fees. Where else could I find deep, urgent plea, the linguistics majors cir- thought-provoking courses such as cled into a scrum and began arguing these? I put the bulletin back into my over what root language Professor bag and looked around. The classroom Panurge was using. While this went on, was packed from wall to wall, and I had Panurge continued to spew out more heard there were dozens more hopeful strange words that the linguistics majors students on the waitlist. Panurge must speedily wrote down, in hopes of find- be a very popular professor; then again, ing a pattern. who could resist studying the Finally, after an hour had passed Elephantine Testicular of the Valiant? and Professor Panurge’s shirt was Such scintillating topics! soaked in red, one of the linguistic stu- Suddenly, the room fell silent as the dents leaped out of his chair, and shout- classroom door creaked open. A man ed, “Eureka! We have decoded his lan- of middling stature, neither too big nor guage! Professor Panurge is saying,

52 Kentaro Yoshida

‘Fools! Is it not obvious that I am bleed- ing to death in front of your very eyes? If only a kind soul would help save my petty life. If only one of you would have mercy on me. I am in great need of blood. I am dying. I will not last much longer; please have pity. Why, oh why, do you soulless, heartless, cruel men debate over my words when I am dying in front of you? Here, at least give me a bandage to cover the wound. I shall contract gangrene at my injured limbs, if I have not already! If only you had compassion!’ “ After a long moment of stunned silence, Professor Panurge smiled, and then said, “And this, young ones, was your first lesson in my class! Lucky for you, it was only a blood bag.” I eagerly raised my hand and said, “Wait, wait! What was the lesson, Professor Panurge?” To this, Panurge put the forefinger of his right hand into his mouth, sucking it very hard with his cheek-muscles. Next he drew it out and, as he did so, made a great noise, as when little boys fire turnip pellets out of guns made of elderwood; and he did this nine times. With the enthusaism of sudden insight, a student stood up and declared, “Ha! I understand! . . . But what?”

53 The Journal of the Core Curriculum

Varieties of Destruction Z ACHARY B OS

The tip of the tongue of the year almost says spring but stutters into cloudy puddles and troughs of mud, on the plowed path and sodden upturned clots of earth.

The soggy Victory Gardens by the Muddy River are leased and weeded by retirees and gay couples who let implacable winter pull apart the plots.

The flocks return to shoals of flat washed leaves deposited by the minor glaciers of Massachusetts in rows like the backs of whales swimming in mud.

The weight of the winter coerces fences to collapse; saturated laths sprawled into the path and each other, opening gates for trespassing cats, rabbits and rats.

The woman in the housecoat was baggy-knees in mud when I passed her mourning her black and broken gate, kicked down by the trawlers looking for a place to lay:

“The people who do this, they have nothing inside of them, they are hollow.” She didn’t accept my offer to help her fix the destruction of the vandals and the injury of the snow.

54 Zachary Bos

Second Thoughts Z ACHARY B OS

Deliberating on follow through, following the Fall, their holy God shook at the failure He’d been shown: “This is not what I meant, not what I meant at all.”

Finest honey they’d been offered, but they selected gall; when given everything, they wanted what they hadn’t known. When confronted they denied it, following the Fall.

He expelled them from His table to the outside of the wall and turned away to weep upon His adamantine throne “This is not what I meant, not what I meant at all.”

They discovered what it meant to be moral, withered, small; As children will, they cried: “ ...maybe later, when we’ve grown?” They never guessed at God’s doubt, following the Fall.

He stitched His lips and kept it in, despite their constant calls though at any time He might have reversed, as deities are prone, after all it was not what He meant, not what He meant at all.

Their calling became quieter. Their absence filled His halls. Paradise became a kingdom for a penitent lord on his own. Deliberating on follow through, following the Fall, He said aloud quite to Himself: that is not what I meant at all. That is not it, at all.

55 The Journal of the Core Curriculum Unintelligent Design

~ M ARTHA M UNOZ

ntelligent design is the idea that the brain and still continue to live. The only through the directed action removal of one component of a struc- of a divine creator are the com- ture Behe considers irreducibly complex plex phenomena of nature does not necessarily halt the functioning Iexplainable. Intelligent design as articu- of the whole. Behe’s conjecture, how- lated by biochemist Michael Behe com- ever, does hold some truth, as an eye prises two main concepts: the idea of without a retina, for example, is a use- irreducible complexity and the subse- less eye. If every component of a sys- quent impossibility of such complexity tem is indispensable, how could a pre- evolving through natural selection. This cursor system have functioned? Could paper will illustrate that these concepts an intermediate system have even exist- are not scientifically supportable and ed? that complex organisms are indeed the Perhaps the best way to respond to result of natural selection. Behe is to first ask: How does evolution Behe (1998) defines a system to be work? Behe envisions evolution as the irreducibly complex if it is “composed systematic layering of complexity, of several interacting parts that con- resembling the process of adding tiers tribute to the basic function, and where to a cake. Behe appears to suggest that the removal of any one of the parts the immediate precursor to the modern causes the system to effectively cease eye would have to be missing one of its functioning.” This definition is ques- components, such as bipolar cells, in tionable. For example, removing or disorder to be considered a precursor. But enabling cones in the human eye pre- complexity does not evolve in this man- serves the basic function of vision. ner. Complexities do not compile like Human beings can lose entire regions of layers on a cake. Rather, they are

56 Martha Munoz~

reworkings of already present materials. “Novelties,” says evolutionary biologist François Jacob (1977), “come from previously unseen association of old material. To create is to recombine.” Natural selection, through selective pressures for traits that make the eye more functional, drive the evolution of its complexity though accumulations of recombinations. One must also not overlook the generative process of mutation, which further contributes to novelty. Precursors are slightly different, operative reworkings of an already functional system. The factors that shape the formation of complex systems are evolutionary history and the specific inner constraints of the system. Natural selection and genetic drift are the mechanisms by which evolutionary history modifies structure. The particular conditions that give certain traits selective advantage lead to adaptation and change. Over time, these changes accumulate into complexities and new functions. For example, the formation

Figure 1: Intermediates in the Evolution of the Eye. From top to bottom, a series of eyes which demonstrates the utility of a light-sensing organ at all stages of complexity: a pigment spot, as is thought to have been possessed by early organisms and which is seen in current species like the planarian; a simple pigment cup as seen in polychaete worms; the optic cup scheme seen in the abalone; the complex lensed eyes of the marine snail Littorina; and the sophisticated eye of the octopus. From Freeman and Herron 69.

57 The Journal of the Core Curriculum

of the eye cup was a reworking of a flat- useless during the day. Insect eyes can ter surface . Evolution of the vertebrate discern flower shapes and some color, eye can be traced back to the photosen- but can only form coarse, grainy images. sitive light spot. The evolution of all Vertebrate eyes have a blind spot where complex systems can be traced back to the optic nerve leaves the eye. Only simpler precursors and intermediates. through natural selection are the imper- These hypotheses regarding specific fections of complex systems explicable. evolutionary histories are testable; oth- Behe next takes a leap in his argu- erwise, scientists would be engaging in ment to say that if complexity could not story-telling. have risen through undirected evolu- Behe claims that some natural sys- tion, it must have been designed. This tems are irreducibly complex and that jump certainly does not follow from the these systems cannot have functional arguments, even if they were true. The precursors. Behe next concludes that specific cause of a natural phenomenon “[irreducible] complexity is incompati- cannot be confidently identified without ble with undirected evolution.” The exhaustive positive proof. Even if nat- truth is that complexity is incompatible ural selection could not account for the with directed evolution. Directed evo- evolution of the eye, which it certainly lution implies two things: uniqueness of can, it would still be a speculative claim complex form and perfection of func- that only a divine creator could account tion. However, it is obvious that these for complexity. Behe argues that a lack two premises are not supported by sci- of evidence against a creator is tanta- entific evidence. For example, the eye is mount to evidence for a creator. a structure not limited to one class of However, the evidence against intelli- organisms; it occurs in various types of gent design is overwhelming. Simply organisms and is seen in many forms. believing that “the world looks very Many visual systems, such as light spot, much as if were the result of an intelli- compound, pinhole, and lens-based eyes gent cause” (Hartwig 2001) does not are seen in nature (Fig. 1). Humans and make it so. As a result of natural selec- octopi share structurally homologous tion, features may appear as though they eyes, except that retinas of the former were specially created, but this does not point away from light while those of the make it so. Natural selection is the latter point toward light (Jacob 1977). agent of the environment making natu- How else, other than by convergent ral selection adaptive, but not deliberate. evolution as a result of similar selective While natural selection directs change, pressures, could such staggeringly anal- there is no eye overseeing the process. ogous structures have arisen? The blindness—or rather, lack of fore- Furthermore, complex systems are not sight—of this process serves to explain perfect; they are limited and flawed. Bat imperfection and redundancy of form eyes can see clearly in the dark but are in nature, which are qualities the theory

58 Martha Munoz~

of intelligent design cannot. The role of that “gives direction to changes, orients mutation must not be overlooked how- chance, and slowly, progressively pro- ever, for it is the substrate for novelty duces more complex structures, new upon which natural selection mediated organs, and new species” (Jacob 1977). by the environment works. Unfortunately for Behe, his strongest Random is not the same as chaotic, argument for intelligent design is actual- and complexity does not mean design. ly the strongest evidence against it. In the case of natural selection, those The Intelligent Design movement traits that are most suited for the envi- attempts to make dogma credible by ronment will confer greater fitness to cloaking it in the language of science. the individual. Greater fitness (in a Its proponents do not objectively con- rough sense) means greater reproduc- sider the data given by the fossil record tive success. Through this process, dele- and current research. The public must terious traits are removed, and beneficial be wary of scientific-seeming affectless- traits are modified and propagated. The ness, as such a posture can be a poker continual introduction of variation by face concealing dogma from the rigor of mutation provides a constant source of truly scientific review. Let skepticism be novelty upon which natural selection the lens through which we all distin- can improvise. It is this interplay guish the pearls of science from glass between pressure and response that has imitations. led to the forms and diversity of life on earth, and which will continue to do so. BIBLIOGRAPHY Unfortunately for the common under- Behe, Michael J. “Experimental support standing of science, this process resem- for the design inference.” Cosmic bles to a great degree the action of an Pursuit. March 1, 1998. intelligent designer with foresight and Freeman, Scott and John Herron. purpose, who created an environment Evolutionary Analysis. Second perfectly suited to its special creations. It Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: is the other way around: the environ- Prentice Hall, 2001. ment modifies the organism. Hartwig, Mark. “The meaning of Homologous complexities, as in the ver- intelligent design.” Boundless. July tebrate and octopus eyes, are strong 18, 2001. indicators of natural selection at work. Jacob, François. “Evolution and tinker- Furthermore, the imperfections of ing.” Science. 196: 1161-6. June complex systems suggest that they were 10, 1977. formed by natural selection, a process

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Marc Chagall. La Mariée. 1949. 11x cm x 94 cm. Oil on canvas. Private collection.

60 Daniel Joseph

Chagall’s “La Mariee` ” D ANIEL J OSEPH

On your wedding day, you’ll float Over your town, changed. The church, one house, will stay Massy, solid; but the rest—the guests, Feasting and piping and Stomping a jig, will flatten To outlines and borders. Things will be Reordered. Even the chicken will fade.

A goathead cellist will trail behind you; A long ghost in blue will whisper, And arrange the loomed Constellations of your veil. Your hand will bleach where it touches Your worn heavens. Your spring Bouquet, cherry dress, flush face— The lustiest colors—a real May Vision, flaring through bruised mists.

Your dress will be matched by the red desk— Remote from you as you are From the town—that a fish approaches, Climbing, a candle before him.

61 The Journal of the Core Curriculum Rebirth of Beauty: Renaissance Art

M ICHAEL Z ISSER

or many scholars and histori- scientific discovery and was accompa- ans, the death of Dante nied by a restored interest in the liberal Alighieri in 1321 marked the arts and “intellectual culture” based official end of the Middle upon the “ideal of spiritual freedom and FAges, an era marked distinctively by autonomy of the personality” (Benesch devout Catholicism and the sub- 54). servience of man to God. However, This new view of Renaissance indi- with Florence and Rome flourishing in vidualism stressed the beauty of the trade and textiles and an underlying dis- human form and can be seen predomi- satisfaction with corrupt Roman nantly in the artwork produced from the Catholic Church throughout Europe, a early quattrocento to the mid-cinque- new zeitgeist slowly began to emerge, cento in both Italy and Northern particularly in Italy. The corruption of Europe alike. The art of the the church led many people to acquire a Renaissance is largely “based on the dis- newfound appreciation of the human covery of the world and of the self ” form and to look back towards (Harbison 8). Although great differ- Antiquity, a period that stressed the val- ences exist between the art of Northern ues of human progress and potential, Europe in the “Late Gothic” period rather than God’s dominance and (Murray 17) and that of Italy, overall power. This Renaissance or “rebirth” of development of new artistic techniques Greco-Roman culture inspired a new flourished, including the innovative use Humanistic view of the universe and a of perspective, depth, dramatic move- new “secular and scientific understand- ment, fresco painting, and symmetry. ing of the physical world” (Benesch 7). These revolutionary techniques, due in Faith in human reason allowed for great large part to scientific and mathematical

62 Michael Zisser

developments, enabled Renaissance portrait of man is represented in which artists to not only take a newfound pride the individual is endowed with extreme, in their accomplishments, but allowed even divine, potential and power. Adam them to represent drasti- is represented in the most cally different—and many beautiful, nude form and times secular—themes is given life and strength throughout their works: directly from the Creator. naturalism, humanism, Captured in this painting realism, and classical is a moment in which “all Biblicalism, which stresses the pride of pagan antiq- mans relation to God, uity in the glory of the rather than his inferiority. body, and all the yearning For Renaissance of Christianity for the artists, a return to spirit have reached a mys- Christianity in its classical terious and perfect har- form paralleled the recre- mony” (Hartt 500). This ation of values from clas- masterpiece represents sical antiquity within their the collective conscious- works of art. Renaissance ness of individuals humanist artists not only throughout the sought to “attack scholas- Renaissance who criti- tic theology and return to cized the “pomp and cer- Figure 1: Albrecht Durer.Christ the Biblical and patristic as the Man of Sorrows (detail). emonies that had grown sources of Christianity” 1493. Oil on panel. Staatliche up around the Church’s (Murray 11), but also to Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany. hierarchy” and sought to “give to an old religious “return to the primitive content a new intensity and nearness to beginnings of Christianity, with its life” (Benesch 7). This thematic devel- emphasis on simple, egalitarian, and opment intended to portray a relation- evangelical community” (Harbison 142). ship between man and God that was not This attack on the dogmatism and cor- hierarchical, but personal. Although ruptive licentiousness of the Roman this Biblical tradition began in Northern Catholic Church stemmed also from Europe with artists such as Albrecht the desire to return to the classical Durer in Germany, it quickly became a notions of Christianity where “belief is major trend in Italy as well, with even an inner experience which does not the most famous of artists, including need sacred garments, tools, and places Donatello and later Leonardo, painting as outer tokens” (Benesch 60). Biblical scenes that depicted the rela- Dürer’s Man of Sorrows (Fig. 1) tionship between man and God. In perfectly represents this inner religious Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam,a experience that had slowly taken over

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the external institutionalization of the ideas that had their origin and purpose Church. The art of early 16th-century outside the confines of the Church—in Germany, which acted as a mimesis of the daily, worldly existence of contem- the Reformation that was rapidly trans- poraries, in their intellectual life, and in forming Europe, subliminally portrayed their discovery of the world through the emotional relationship between man exploration and commerce” (Harbison and God (or Christ) that became elevat- 124). This revolutionary turn towards ed through God’s grace and faith alone. secularity is due, in large part, to the This style symbolizes the “ardent desire Reformation and the ubiquitous dissat- of the leading spirits to find an immedi- isfaction with the Catholic Church. ate way to God, to justify themselves Depicting the landscape enabled artists through the strength of their belief to imagine and create an “ideal space” instead through ecclesiastic formulas” and a “complete illusion of a new (Benesch 22). In this painting, Durer world” (Murray 40). By painting the reveals his inner emotional distress perfect place (locus amoenus), artists caused by Christ’s suffering. The divine were not only able to make use of new Christ, who “bears Durer’s own fea- artistic trends such as depth perception tures” (Benesch 22), shows the expres- and perspective, but were also able to sion of tragic sorrow that has so heavi- place themselves and the viewer in a ly impacted Durer’s own human psyche. somewhat imaginary utopian world that These trends of Classic Biblicalism existed outside of the corruption and combined with a spiritual and emotion- religious fraudulence of the time period. al connection between man and the Although landscape paintings are gener- divine define a large aspect of ally regarded as a form of secular art, Renaissance art, in which human beings many of the works contain some form have entered an inward spiritual quest of Christian or Protestant theme or nar- for religiosity outside of the church, rative subtly interwoven within them. while also being depicted as a paradigm This feature stems predominantly from of beauty, first exemplified in classical an “understand[ing] of the universe as antiquity, where man himself takes on a an embodiment of God” (Benesch 42) godly appearance. where a Divine Creator is believed to be One of the main secular artistic responsible for the creation of the natu- movements born from the Renaissance ral world in all its beauty. This was the development of what came to Renaissance pantheism is notable in the be known as naturalism, or “landscape works of German artist Joachim Patinir, imagery” (Hartt 280). This technique, particularly Landscape with St. Jerome which was used by both Northern (Fig. 2). This painting depicts a solitary European and Italian artists alike, repre- Jerome taming a lion in the wilderness, sents a new purpose taken on by artists representing man’s peaceful relationship of the time: to focus on “issues and with the natural world. Jerome has

64 Michael Zisser

Figure 2: Joahim Patinir. Landscape with St. Jerome. c. 1515-24. Oil on wood. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain.

Figure 3: Piero della Francesca. Allegorical Triumph of Federico da Mantefeltro. ca. 1465. Reverse of Portrait of Federico da Mantefeltro, Duke of Urbino. Oil on panel, 47 x 33 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy.

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retreated to “face his inner demons” speculation factual. In general, it can be (Harbison 138), depicted through the said that landscape art throughout the dark clouds in the upper left corner. Renaissance sought to represent a realis- The theme of saints or pilgrims “going tic world that made use of the scientific into a harsh world in order to restore and mathematical discoveries of the age their sense of purpose and ideals” on one hand, and an idealistic, imaginary (Harbison 144) became a humanistic world where people could find inner way of showing the power of nature to solace outside of the corruption of the restore and give life to a deteriorating Church on the other. society like that of the Holy Roman Along with the creation of land- Empire. The use of color progression scape paintings came a continuous from dark to light also allows for a sense development of a type of artwork that of recession. By creating such a com- art historians now call Realism. Visual plex, diverse landscape, Patinir is able to realism refers to the artists “ability to depict a setting representative of a place mimic . . . the myriad effects of color anyone would be willing to journey and light to be seen in the visible world through because of its beauty and sense . . . as if the eyes of the artists had sud- of eventual serenity. denly been opened” (Harbison 26). The Italian painter Piero Francesca Although much more complex in its portrayed similar themes in his works, application, realism strived to accom- but is more notable for his incorpora- plish two tasks: to “render solids tion of scientific and mathematical according to how objects are seen in developments within his art. This is light and space” and to “describe the essentially the technique that most dis- observable factual data of nature” tinguishes Northern Renaissance art (Wohl 9). This desire to accurately por- from that of Italy. As for Piero’s tray the natural world was also accom- Triumph of Federico da Montefeltro panied by the fervent craving to “repre- (Fig. 3), the rate at which the conical sent the human body in a more realistic hills fade into the distance and the rate way than any practiced since classical at which “their intersection with the antiquity” (Murray 17). The various plain vanishes” represents this plane as approaches taken by Northern “part of the surface of a sphere” (Hartt European artists and Italian artists mark 282). Piero’s rationale for this is unde- the most distinct differences in artistic niably his desire to incorporate the rev- developments during the Renaissance. olutionary scientific idea of the time These differences primarily deal with that the world was round. This notion the styles, ornaments and techniques is further supported by the fact that that began developing in the 15th cen- Piero was acquaintances with Paolo tury and culminated in the High Toscanelli, who drew the map Renaissance. The major difference that Columbus used to make this theoretical existed between Italian and Northern

66 Michael Zisser

Figure 4: Pietro Perugino. The Delivery of the Keys. 1482. Fresco. Capella Sistina, Rome, Italy.

Figure 5: Rogier van der Weyden. St. John Altarpiece. c.1455-1460. Oil on panel. Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, Germany.

Figure 6: Giorgione. Sleeping Venus. c.1508. Oil on canvas. Dresden Gallery, Dresden, Germany.

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realism was the former’s emphasis of detail” prevalent in Greco-Roman cul- perspective and mathematical precision. ture and brought along with it the adop- While Italian art was more generally tion of “classically derived humanistic focused on “regularity and clarity,” architectural vocabulary” (Wohl 161). Northern art leaned more heavily While Italian realism was individu- towards a representation of “miniature, alized and “style-conscious,” Northern texture, and illusion” that incorporated European Renaissance art generally imaginative and personal experiences took the form of “distorted introver- and an “enclosed world of privacy and sion—spaces, private and enclosed” preciousness” (Harbison 34). where the artist strove “for their own One of the most famous artists to kind of ideal representation” (Harbison stand out among Italians who perfected 33) of a magical world. This imagina- the use of spatial representation and tive form was oftentimes subjected to perspective was Pietro Perugino. In his much criticism from Italian artists who Giving of the Keys to St. Peter (Fig. 4), a saw the art as dull and irrational. sense of openness is enacted through Michelangelo once said Northern art the use of spatial techniques and math- was painted “without reason or art, ematical meticulousness. This painting without symmetry or proportion, with- provides a “refreshing sense of libera- out skill, selection or boldness and, tion from material restraints, as if the finally, without substance or vigor” spectator could glide freely in any direc- (Harbison 155). However, what remain tion” (Hartt 359). This use of perspec- as outstanding aspects of Northern art tive involves “using a mathematical the- are the intricate depictions of details, ory according to which all lines perpen- textures, and contrasts between areas of dicular to the picture plane converge light and dark. Rogier van der Weyden’s toward a single vanishing point, and fig- St John’s Altarpiece (Fig. 5) is an apt ures or objects are placed in regular and prototype of this Northern disposition. diminishing scale along those orthogo- Depicted are three scenes from the life nals” (Harbison 32). The symmetry of of John the Baptist which take place the classically designed buildings and indoors, with windows that provide a the sense of mathematically produced glimpse into the outer world. This dis- depth and third dimension is what distinctively Northern European technique tinctively differentiates Italian was in stark contrast to the Italian “bril- Renaissance art from the flatness and liant, open, sunlight piazza effect” artificialness of Northern Europe and (Harbison 134) in which the beauty and even, to an extent, the previous religious realism of the outer natural world were works of the Middle Ages. The inclina- depicted, as opposed to the Northern tion towards spatial precision and per- “love of fragmentation and detail.” In spective was in large part due to the Weyden’s piece, this fragmented realism “admiration for naturalistic rendering of is clearly evident as the multiple stages

68 Michael Zisser

Figure 7: Raphael. The School of Athens. 1509. Fresco. Vaticano, Stanza della Segnatura, Rome. of John’s life “draw the viewer into an Renaissance would reach a climax of imagined world and make the viewer artistic genius that featured an honor aware of its illusionist nature” roll of innovative painters such as (Harbison 39). This view of the world Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, was also heavily influenced by the phi- Leonardo da Vinci, and Botticelli. What losophy of nominalism, which states was born was a renowned representa- that anything a person can truly know is tion of the human being in its most directly perceivable through the senses. beautiful form along with a combina- Thus, through the use of the senses, an tion of Italian perspective, symmetry, artist is able to focus upon the intricate and harmony, Northern detail, and the details of specific objects, people, and representation of Gods, historical places. Again, this devotion to detail events, and unforgettable legends of and fragmented reality was what set classical antiquity. These themes were Northern European art apart from the oftentimes painted in the “ornate classi- holistic realism and mathematical preci- cal style” (Wohl 115), traditionally sion of Italy. known as fresco painting. Since artists All of the artistic developments generally painted large works, they discussed previously culminated in a developed a technique of using wet period known as the High Renaissance plaster that enabled them to transfer in Italy and as the Late Gothic period in cartoons, or original drafts, of the paint- the North. Starting in 1500, the ings onto ceramic where it would then

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dry. The style of these frescoes was ematical precision and spatial tech- developed by pupils of Raphael in the niques of the Renaissance and the archi- early 1500s who had as their general aim tectural and thematic traditions of clas- “verisimilitude in the representation of sical antiquity. This is, of course, the classical roman past” (Wohl 118). It Raphael’s School of Athens (Fig. 7). This is this very technique that Michelangelo painting is essentially the culmination of used to cover the Sistine Chapel with his all High Renaissance art. In the direct magnificent portraits of biblical scenes. center of the painting stand Plato and Most people know about Aristotle; Plato points upwards as he Leonardo’s remarkable discoveries describes his theory of universal forms, regarding the human body and how he while Aristotle points down, relating his and Michelangelo depicted the human earthly, practical moral philosophy as he form throughout their works, but two carries a copy of the Nichomachean marginally less well-known paintings are Ethics. To the left Socrates engages in left to be discussed. The first of these philosophical argument, with other is Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus (Fig. 6). notable mathematicians such as Most noticeable here is the depiction of Pythagoras and Euclid are distributed the nude human being, who “shining in throughout the painting. On the bot- the soft light [represents] the full perfec- tom, with his left elbow resting on a slab tion of human beauty” (Hartt 592). of marble, is Michelangelo (Hartt 510). Where Renaissance art differs dramati- This amalgamation of worldly philoso- cally from the Middle Ages is in the por- phers, scholars, and artists represents trayal of the “human being as a living the renewed interest in humanism, the organism” (Benesch 17) flourishing in liberal arts, and classical education its innocent nudeness. Just as important throughout the Renaissance. As artists in this painting (finished by Titian) is the began to drift away from the dogmatism image of the Greek Goddess Venus, of the Catholic Church, they turned representing the Renaissance rebirth of toward the intellectualism so often classical culture. It was the “rise of sec- stressed by classical philosophers to be ular education, coupled with the tenden- the best and happiest possible life. This cy to equate knowledge with Latin and painting also represents a remarkable Greek literature—that is, Humanism representation of space and classical that led to a demand for such pictures” architecture. The series of arches, rece- (Murray 278). Venus, curved perfectly dining into what seems like infinite dis- in relation to the earth, rests in calm tance, is flanked by nude sculptures. serenity in the midst of a natural land- Even more astonishing is Raphael’s abil- scape and, consequently, idealizes the ity to incorporate such a large amount ultimate topoi of Renaissance art. of people within one area, something The final painting left to discuss unprecedented in the history of art. combines both the eloquence of math- Regardless of the number of people

70 Michael Zisser

within the room, Raphael’s mastery of the perspective technique almost forces the viewers eyes towards the center, where two of the greatest thinkers of antiquity stand in pensive reflection, symbolizing the new scholarly and classical consciousness that had pervaded the Renaissance for over two-hundred years.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Benesch, Otto. The Art of the Renaissance in Northern Europe. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1947. Harbison, Craig. The Mirror of the Artist: Northern Renaissance Art in Its Historical Context. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1995. Hartt, Frederick. History of Italian Renaissance Art. 3rd Edition. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1987. Murray, Peter and Linda. The Art of the Renaissance. Singapore: Thames and Hudson, 1963. “Online Art Museum.” . 6 December 2004. Wohl, Hellmut. The Aesthetics of Italian Renaissance Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

71 The Journal of the Core Curriculum Aeneas as Role Model

J ENNA K ILEY

n approximately the year 30 BC, comes in the form of another question, the author Virgil was commis- the Virgilian question: can you be a sioned by Emperor Augustus nationalist and hold onto your personal Caesar to write a work glorifying integrity? It has been reported that Ihim and legitimizing his role as emper- prior to his death Virgil requested that or. The result of that commission was the unfinished Aeneid be burned the Aeneid. It is the story of a seem- because he did not want to be remem- ingly virtuous man and his journey to bered for it. To many, this was the most establish Rome in Italy. In Book VI, blatant evidence that Virgil had in fact Aeneas descends into the Underworld betrayed his integrity and portrayed and sees a line of his descendants—all Rome and Augustus falsely. Others influential people in the establishment believe that Virgil wanted the work and governing of the Roman Empire. burned because he did not want to be Among Aeneas’ descendants is remembered as an opponent of the Augustus Caesar. Due to Virgil’s cre- Roman Empire. On that topic, there is ation of this relationship between much to suggest that Virgil used the Augustus and Aeneas, one could assume character of Aeneas to illustrate the that he would also give them similar per- character flaws of Augustus Caesar. sonality traits. The question that is One of Aeneas’ central flaws is his derived from this assumption is whether inability to remain focused on the task Virgil intended these inherited qualities that he has been assigned by the gods: to be positive or negative. Is the char- to journey to Italy and form the Roman acter of Aeneas really meant to legit- Empire. Along the way he meets the imize and glorify Augustus Caesar? beautiful Dido, visits the Underworld, Part of the answer to this question and ventures to Sicily. During each of

72 Jenna Kiley

73 The Journal of the Core Curriculum

these detours he must be constantly and stabs herself with a sword. reminded of his goal and pried away Even with evidence suggesting that from what he is presently doing. When the Aeneid was not meant to be a flat- he is with Dido, he is visited by Mercury, tering portrayal of the Rome, it was who brings him the message that he adopted by Augustus and the Roman must think of his father and his heir nobility as the central history of the Iulus, “to whom the Italian realm, the Empire. In fact, after reading the work, land / Of Rome, are due” (IV, 105, much of Augustus’ opposition relented 375). Upon his visit to the Underworld, on the basis that Augustus possessed it is not until his father “fired his love / the same seemingly redeeming qualities Of glory in the years to come” (VI, 191, as Aeneas. The Aeneid became a stan- 1200) that he felt ready to depart again dard text, and it is maintained as a dedi- for Italy. Virgil also portrays Aeneas as cation to the Roman imperial ideal. Yet, indecisive in some of these same some are still left wondering if that ideal instances. Following his difficult and is actually what it appears to be and emotional breakup with Dido, Virgil whether Aeneas was a true embodiment shows Aeneas confused, wondering if of the character of Augustus Caesar. he had made the right decision. Virgil displays this further through Aeneas’ BIBLIOGRAPHY meetings with Dido in the Underworld: Virgil. The Aeneid. Trans. Robert “Am I someone to flee from” (VI, 176, Fitzgerald. New York: Vintage, 625)? 1990. Perhaps one of Aeneas’ greatest faults is his unsympathetic attitude toward the women in his life. This is exemplified first by his nonchalant attitude towards his wife’s protection when they are escaping Troy. She is forced to walk behind everyone, and, when she is lost, Aeneas feels there is no hope in getting her back: “Never did I look back / Or think to look for her (II, 59, 960). Aeneas has a similar attitude when leaving Dido. He even goes so far as to suggest that they were never truly married (IV, 107, 465). Then before he leaves for Italy, he says that he wishes that he had never met her (IV, 108, 475). This lack of sympathy leaves Dido so distraught that she builds a funeral pyre

74 Flora Smith A Conversion of Views

F LORA S MITH

n Don Quixote, Cervantes tells and housekeeper decide to burn the the story of an ideal knight errant books, hoping that a lack of inspiration who tries to bring the world back will stop him from going on ‘quests’. To to the Golden Age through his prevent him from looking for these Iacts of chivalry. In the beginning of the books, they tell him that a devil stole his novel, Cervantes portrays Don Quixote library. When they tell this story to Don as a mad man who is playing a foolish Quixote, instead of believing it, or game of make-believe. But as the story rejecting it as nonsense, he creates his progresses, the reader connects with own version of what happened. He him and shares in his idealistic dream. renames the devil Frestón, “a great As the reader becomes more idealistic, enemy” of his who has taken away his Don Quixote becomes more rational, library because he will “engage in single and at the end of the novel Don combat [with] a knight who is a favorite Quixote renounces his love for chivalry of his, and defeat him, without his being and curses his adventures. Though this able to do anything to prevent it” ending seems problematic, it actually (Cervantes, 60). Don Quixote’s reaction completes the circle of Don Quixote’s is important because he creates an epic shift from idealism to rationality and the for himself out something so small. In reader’s change from rationality to ideal- this isolated event, Don Quixote has ism. conjured an entire history between him In the beginning of the novel Don and this devil, and even corrects the Quixote is obsessed with with books of housekeeper on his name. This event chivalry and goes on short adventures to convinces the reader of Don Quixote’s act out what he has read. In an effort to insanity, and his next adventure only cure Don Quixote’s madness, his niece furthers this opinion.

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Don Quixote’s first adventure fur- meet them in battle. Humorously, he ther convinces the reader that he is mad. crashes into them and injures himself After persuading Sancho Panza, a greatly. One would think that such an farmer from his village, to abandon his experience would bring him back to farm and his family to be Don Quixote’s reality, but instead Don Quixote con- squire, Don Quixote stumbles upon his structs a fictitious story to explain it. He first major adventure. While riding Don is “certain that the same sage Frestón Quixote sees a mass of windmills, but who stole [his] library and [his] books imagines that they are giants. He excit- has just turned these giants into wind- edly tells Sancho that “fortune is direct- mills, to deprive [him] of the glory of ing our affairs even better than we could [his] victory” (64). This passage shows have wished: for you can see [ ...] thir- that Don Quixote is limited to viewing ty or more monstrous giants with whom the world in realtion to the book she I intend to fight a battle and whose lives reads. At this point the reader is sure I intend to take” (63). Despite Sancho’s that Don Quixote has no grasp on real- exasperated efforts to convince him ity and is completely mad. But through otherwise, Don Quixote charges off to the novel Don Quixote changes in sub-

76 Flora Smith

tle ways, even though he still retains reader has written Don Quixote off as a some of his delusions. He becomes comical but insane man, the reader is more idealistic than mad, and the reader forced to reconsider his opinion. His sympathizes with this new sentiment. words may be idealistic, but his hopes This change can be seen in his speech to ring true to most readers. Who, after the goatherds. watching the news, and hearing about all In this speech, the reader learns the violence that is in the world, does what Don Quixote values most. He not hope for times of peace and safety? admires the Golden Age and how peo- Don Quixote is trying to defend the ple lived in it. During this time “all ideals of peace, freedom and safety, and things were held in common” and “all he must be commended for this senti- then was peace, all was friendship, all ment, even though he is going about it was harmony” (84). The references to in a rather unorthodox fashion. It is for beautiful shepherdesses, nature, and these reasons that I disagree with Ruth harmony among men give this passage El Saffar’s statement that the reader an idealistic and nostalgic tone. For “laughs comfortably” at Don Quixote’s example, Quixote calls water sources “insanity” (270). It is true that some of “limpid fountains and running streams” Don Quixote’s first exploits are comical, (84), and refers to the land farmer’s but his speech to the shepherds clearly plow as a “fertile blossom” (85). Don sounds a ring of truth, and although Quixote is encouraging a return to a one could call him idealist, one could more simple way of life where people not label his goals as insane. Because of were more content, and where there was this the reader is not able to dismiss his peace. Don Quixote is trying to bring words as the ramblings of a mad man, back this simple way of life by becom- and is forced to consider initial judging a knight. He praises the ideals that ments. the knight errant tries to protect, when By the end of the novel Don he says that “it was for the protection of Quixote is quite different from the man such ladies, [ . . .] that the order of he was at the beginning of his travels. knights errant was founded, to defend This difference becomes apparent when maidens, protect widows and succour he meets Don Álvaro Tarfe, who has orphans and the needy” (85). These read the story of Don Quixote. Don maidens are those that wish to live their Quixote recognizes him, and engages lives freely, without any harassment him in conversation. After learning that from men. These are very sane and Don Álvaro was a friend of the hero in honorable words, and it is a bit of a Don Quixote, and encouraged him to shock to hear them coming from Don go on his adventures, Don Quixote asks Quixote, a man who believed that a field him if he is “at all like that Don Quixote of windmills were actually giants ready to whom you refer” (967). Don Álvaro to attack him. If up to this point the responds very definitely saying, “no, cer-

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tainly not, [ ...] not in the slightest” reader laughed at how easy it was for (967). This whole exchange is confus- him to believe the story about the devil. ing, since Don Quixote is referring to Now they wants to join his idealistic himself as the character that the reader lifestyle, and the reader identifies with, is reading about, and Don Álvaro com- rather than mocks, the old gentleman. paring his friend who was in a story to Everything seems to be in perfect har- the “real” Don Quixote. Even though mony, but this feeling ends as soon as this exchange is mildly incomprehensi- Don Quixote becomes deathly ill. ble, there is still one point that is clear. Soon after returning home, Don The idealistic Don Quixote in the end Quixote catches a fever that keeps him of the novel does not resemble the reck- in bed for a week. When he feels well less and delusional Don Quixote in the enough to speak, he exclaims: “Blessed first part, and it is these two Don be Almighty God who has done me Quixotes that Don Ávaro is comparing. such good! Indeed his mercy knows no Don Quixote is not the only one bounds” (976). His niece is surprised at who has changed, however; the reader this new demeanor, and notes that it is has as well. This change can be seen by “more rational than usual” (976). This the reactions of Don Quixote’s family is the beginning of Don Quixote’s tran- and friends when he returns, because sition from idealistic to rational. When their conversion mirrors the reader’s. his family asks him what God has done When Don Quixote arrives home after for him, he replies by saying that his his adventures, he decides to become a “mind has been restored to [him], and it shepherd, so that he can “give free rein is now clear and free, without those to his thoughts of love as he practiced gloomy shadows of ignorance cast over that virtuous pastoral way of life” (973) [him] by [his] wretched, obsessive read- that he praised in his Golden Age ing of those detestable books of chival- speech. Instead of berating him for ry” (976). He also states that “those coming up with another delusional profane histories of knight-errantry are scheme, as they did before, his niece and odious to [him]” (977). These passages housekeeper agree to join him in his show a striking change form his original new venture. Even his priest approves: opinions. This is very disturbing for he “lauded his virtuous and honourable readers because just as they have been decision, and again offered to accompa- convinced that the ideals that knights ny them” (974). This is an important errant stand for are laudable, Don passage because it shows how different Quixote, the one who convinced them, the reader’s and the characters’ attitudes is telling them that these values are are in comparison to their opinions in “detestable.” His family and friends are the beginning of the novel. In the upset as well, and try to persuade him to beginning, Don Quixote’s family wanted go back to his old ways by telling him to to burn his books of chivalry, and the “come to [his] senses, and forget all that

78 Flora Smith

idle nonsense” (977). These words are those same beliefs. Though ending of important because in the beginning it Don Quixote may seem unjust and was the members of Quixote’s house- cruel, it actually connects the reader’s hold who referred to books of chivalry conversion to Don Quixote’s ideals, and as “evil” and “unchristian” (50); but Don Quixote’s conversion to rationality. now they believe it is sensible to value books of chivalry. Yet, their persuading BIBLIOGRAPHY is to no avail, and Don Quixote dies a Borges, Jorge Luis. Labyriths: Selected rational man who hates the ideals of Stories and other Writings. New chivalry. York: New Directions, 1964. Many readers find this ending Cervantes, Miguel. Don Quixote. problematic; they had been convinced trans. John Rutherford. New that Don Quixote was right all along, York: Penguin Books, 2000. but here at the conclusion of the tale he El Saffar, Ruth. “Apropos of Don renounces his own actions. This ending Quixote: Hero or Fool?” MLN, is not as cruel as it seems, because it Hispanic Issue (March 1970): 269- completes the cycle of Don Quixote’s 273. change from idealism to realism, and the reader’s opposite shift from realism to idealism. Don Quixote has passed the torch of idealism to the readers, who can carry on his ideals. He has taught the reader to look at the world in a new light, and once this job is done he can rely on his readers to spread the message. By viewing the ending in this light, one can agree with Jorge Luis Borges when he writes that “the protagonists of the Quixote are, at the same time, readers of the Quixote” (194). This reasoning is true because it is now the reader’s responsibility to carry on the ideals that Don Quixote formerly believed in. The reader must continue to believe in the ideals of the Golden Age despite disap- proval from others, and a key element to a protagonist is that one must overcome obstacles. In this case the obstacle is keeping the faith even when the one who gave them their beliefs has rejected

79 The Journal of the Core Curriculum Sincerity & Seduction in Don Giovanni

J AMES J OHNSON

ne point of entry to Germany two hundred thirty-one, in Mozart’s Don Giovanni is France one hundred in France, and in to consider Beethoven’s Turkey ninety-one, “ma in Ispagna son sentiment, expressed late già mille e tre!” He conquers country Oin life, that the sacred art of music wenches, chambermaids, and city ladies, “ought never to permit itself to be countesses, baronesses, marchionesses, degraded to the position of being a foil and princesses: slender ones in summer, for so scandalous a subject.”1 plumpish ones in winter, and older ones Beethoven’s indignation grew from his to round off the list. But “sua passion own religious view of the artist. “There predominante è la giovin principiante,” can be no loftier mission than to come Leporello sings: “His overriding pas- nearer than other men to the Divinity,” sion is for virgins.” Here as elsewhere he wrote to the Archduke Rudolf in the librettist Lorenzo da Ponte skates on 1823, “and to disseminate the divine the far side of sexual innuendo to rays among mankind.”2 Despite the approach vulgarity. “Provided she opera’s divinely punitive ending—with wears a skirt, you know what he’s going Don Giovanni sent to hell for his crimes to do!”3 and the other characters pledging to The way Giovanni speaks of those keep to the straight and narrow—there 2,065 women is at least as stunning as is much to offend in the opera. To their number. “It’s all part of love,” he appreciate Beethoven’s point, you need- says. “If a man is faithful only to one, n’t go any further than Leporello’s he is cruel to all the others. I, a man of Catalogue Aria. Here the servant boundless generosity, love every one of proudly enumerates his master’s con- them.”4 Surely the view is either a cyn- quests: in Italy six hundred and forty, in ical lie or a great delusion. Either way, it

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keeps him from looking back. But there theme: that he is neither a seducer nor a is another possibility, which in fact deceiver. He writes: “I venture to say explains his successes much more cred- that I was often virtuous in the act of ibly than either deceit or self-deception. vice. Seduction was never characteristic Namely, that what he says is true: that of me; for I have never seduced except seduction is a misnomer, that his love is unconsciously, being seduced myself.”6 selfless, and that constancy to one The “professional seducer,” he adds would deprive all others. Søren near the end of his memoirs, “is an Kierkegaard takes this view in abominable creature,” a “true criminal,” Either/Or: “I should rather not call and the “enemy of the object on which him a deceiver. To be a seducer requires he has his designs.”7 a certain amount of reflection and con- To early Protestants, sincerity sciousness, and as soon as this is pres- meant transparency: their words ent, then it is proper to speak of cun- matched their hearts.8 But professional ning and intrigues and crafty plans. This liars also mastered sincerity to wear as a consciousness is lacking in Don mask. To succeed you must be believed, Giovanni. Therefore, he does not and to be believed you must be sincere. seduce. He desires, and this desire acts With the thunderous opening chords of seductively.”5 the overture, Giovanni’s damnation Whether the claim is preposterous seems sure, and yet at numerous specif- or plausible—and penetrating Don ic moments we cannot discern whether Giovanni’s real motivations is not as his sincerity is honest or a ruse. Nor can simple as it first seems—Lorenzo da the other characters. The peasant-girl Ponte has hit upon the secret of all great Zerlina is on the way to her own wed- lovers: sincerity. This is Don Giovanni’s ding when Don Giovanni takes her tone—and, one might add, the tone of hand, tells her she is destined for higher all successful imposters, con-men, holy things, and promises marriage. Only a martyrs, and flatterers. Da Ponte’s fel- timely intervention by Donna Elvira low Venetian, Giacomo Casanova, keeps Zerlina out of Leporello’s cata- maintains the tone of sincerity for the logue. For her part, Donna Elvira is length of his twelve-volume memoirs to already on the list and eager to declare explain his own conquests, which occur to everyone she encounters just what a on average about once every thirty monster Don Giovanni is; nevertheless, pages. Ingenuous and immediate, late in the opera, she is still ready to Casanova seems to tell us everything, believe that Don Giovanni truly loves including his setbacks and humiliations, her. Judging Giovanni’s sincerity is alto- his illnesses and debilities, each time he gether more urgent for Donna Anna. is impotent, and the shame he feels in In the opening scene, a cloaked intruder sleeping with prostitutes. Throughout forces his way into her room, either the work Casanova repeats a single rapes her or tries unsuccessfully to rape

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her, and stabs her father as he rushes to drama, but it cannot fully explain our her aid. It is of course Don Giovanni, own fascination with his exploits. In my though she does not know it at the time. view, this effect lies with the music. When she encounters him only days For every character in the opera, later, he asks with affecting concern, Mozart fashions a characteristic musical “Who was the villain that dared to upset style. Social rank was the most obvious the calm of your life?”9 marker of identity in the eighteenth cen- Asking whether Giovanni’s sinceri- tury, and owing to use and tradition party is honest or a ruse is another way of ticular musical styles came to be associ- asking if he genuinely believes what he ated with particular ranks. Mozart made says or if the sincere tone is used to hide full use of such associations, writing a scheming interior that we never see. If opera buffa for the servant Leporello, he believes his words, then perhaps opera seria for Donna Anna and Donna Kierkegaard is right and he is a sheer Elvira, a pastoral style for the peasant force of nature: unreflective, true to his Zerlina, and a martial style for the desires, and at least in this one respect Commandant. Don Giovanni is the one without censure. If he does not, then character without a characteristic style. he is a master of deceit and da Ponte is This only makes sense. He is a in on the game. In either case, his sin- chameleon who assumes the shades of cerity is powerfully convincing. Part of his surroundings, slipping into buffa the strange spell of Mozart’s Don when he is with Leporello, a virtuosic Giovanni is how easy it is to disregard seria style with Elvira, and a folk-like the fact that its principal character is a simplicity with Zerlina. When Giovanni would-be rapist and killer. The libretto swaps his clothes with his servant the possesses a cavalier bluntness, and yet better to woo a luscious maid, Mozart even its brutalities can seem strangely offers its musical equivalent by hiding untroubling. “L’ha voluto,” Don the orchestra behind a whispered pizzi- Giovanni says to Leporello just after the cato and giving the accompaniment to a Commandante’s death. “He asked for simple mandolin. it,” is the way Leporello takes it, but the Just as da Ponte never reveals what Italian might as easily mean, “She asked Don Giovanni is really thinking, Mozart for it,” with reference to whatever has keeps resolutely to the surface in his just happened in Donna Anna’s bed- musical depictions. The music does not chamber.10 From start to finish, Don comment upon Giovanni’s actions, Giovanni’s actions are on full view, and much less pass judgement or condemn. still he seems more a likeable rogue than In fact, it backs him up at every turn. a criminal. Instead of condemning him This is the musical version of sincerity: we’re more likely amused or intrigued. it gives us no reason to doubt the truth Why is this? His sincerity may very well of Giovanni’s words. Mozart certainly account for his successes within the had the ability to offer such comment

82 James Johnson

had he wanted. A celebrated instance Giovanni’s hands its silences prompt that he surely knew comes in Gluck’s Donna Elvira to reply. This is Iphigénie en Tauride, when Orestes, Giovanni’s gift: to read instantly the terrorized by the Furies for having killed heart of his target and then speak as a his mother, at last announces that peace kindred spirit. When he comes to the has returned to his heart. But accompa- payoff line—”Discendi, o gioia bella,” nying him in the orchestra is a churning, “Come down, my joy!”—the key again tumultuous rumble. “He is lying!” modulates, this time to C major. The Gluck called out during a rehearsal in melody that at last blossoms has grown which the orchestra played the passage from the musical material of Donna too softly. “He has killed his mother!”11 Elvira’s thoughts but now, spoken aloud There are no such moments in Don as it were by Don Giovanni, it is alto- Giovanni. gether more sumptuous. Where the For this reason it is not enough to shift from A to E is subtle, that from E say that Mozart’s music abets the to C is bold. The new key of C, rela- attempted seductions on the stage. It tively remote to E, is unexpected though reaches beyond the wavering virtue of not jarring, and while still bright, it is the drama’s characters to draw us into considerably warmer. The modulation Giovanni’s tainted moral universe. The that prepares Giovanni’s line enacts his real seducer in Don Giovanni is command. The strings descend step- Mozart, and the seduction is not a fic- wise. The effect is ravishing. tion. This is what Beethoven must have All of this happens while Don meant in deploring the work. Giovanni and Leporello continue to talk Consider the moment in the out of Elvira’s hearing, which Mozart Second Act when Donna Elvira, who sets in a rapid buffa style. Mozart’s until now has spared no occasion to astonishing dramatic control is on full curse her lover as a traitor, appears at a display here. Giovanni mirrors the oth- window and, believing herself alone, ers’ musical styles with such sincerity sings that her heart still trembles for that we begin to believe him. him.12 Her musical line—hesitant, bro- The opera contains many such ken, not properly a melody—conveys instances of Mozart’s seductions. “Là ci the nature of her thoughts. Don darem la mano,” the aria in which Giovanni is below, and he seizes his Giovanni promises to marry the peas- chance to beg forgiveness and declare ant-girl Zerlina, narrates her surrender that he also still loves her. This he does in a sequence that exercises strong musi- in the very melody she has sung. As the cal persuasion.13 “There we shall join tonality shifts from A to E major, a hands, there you will say yes,” he sings related but brighter key, which quickens of his country house in a tune of child- the attention without drawing attention. like innocence. “Look, it is not far, The musical line is the same, but in come my sweet, let’s go.” The slow

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duple meter is soothing and gentle, and, judging by the words or the music, but just as with Donna Elvira, Giovanni’s from now on Masetto is suspicious— simple stanza creates the musical expec- and so am I. “He didn’t even touch my tation for a reply, which Zerlina readily fingertips!” Zerlina tells Masetto.17 gives: “I want to and yet I don’t; my Really? The entire duet was about join- heart has misgivings; I should, indeed, ing hands. The problem with sincerity is be happy, but he might be bluffing me.” that the more it convinces, the less you The music depicts Zerlina’s indeci- are willing to be convinced. This is why sion in a series of faltering, downward Giovanni’s pleasingly reassuring tone is steps in the next exchange. “Come,” so corrosive. To avoid being a dupe you Giovanni coos, “I will change your life.” have to become a cynic. She stammers, “But I pity Masetto . . . Mozart remains faithful to Then quick, I am no longer strong.” Giovanni’s unfailing sincerity through- Now Mozart begins to work on us. out the opera, but in one extraordinary In the second stanza we return to the moment the composer allows the con- opening innocent tune, but Giovanni tradictions of this tone to show. It has to sing only two lines instead of comes in the tour de force setting of four to get Zerlina to answer. This dou- three orchestras playing three dances in bles the pace of the conversation and three different meters.18 When Donna stirs a sense of anticipation. Mozart Anna and Donna Elvira come disguised adds a nice dramatic touch by gracing to Don Giovanni’s ball and briefly pair Giovanni’s lines with a flute and off to dance, an onstage orchestra plays grounding Zerlina’s with a bassoon. We a minuet, the most aristocratic dance of feel them coming together even if we the eighteenth century. When Don do not consciously register why.14 And Giovanni seizes Zerlina and dances her as the meter shifts to a pastoral 6/8, straight out of the room, a second they do come together, singing in duet onstage orchestra plays a contredanse, a to the end. form with roots in English country It is not fully evident just how well dance. Leporello grabs the peasant Giovanni has fashioned his voice to Masetto in clownish parody, and a third match Zerlina’s until her later penitent orchestra strikes up a sprightly ‘German’ aria to Masetto, in which she claims to dance. have been tricked. “Batti, batti” is cast Wonderment over Mozart’s techni- in the same reassuring duple meter with cal feat and the sheer fun of trying to a similarly innocent tune, and at the end hear each orchestra may distract from Zerlina moves to the same pastoral 6/8 the larger point. Until now, Don for her conclusion, singing, “Let’s make Giovanni has kept the different versions up, my dear! We want to pass our days of himself distinct in the minds of his and nights in joy and gaiety!”16 There’s hearers. This is the instant when he is no reason to doubt her sentiments, caught: Zerlina screams from offstage;

84 James Johnson

Giovanni blames Leporello for the 1. Quoted in Martin Cooper, attempted assault; and Elvira, Anna, and Beethoven: The Last Decades, 1817- Ottavio pull off their masks to sing, 1827 (Oxford: Oxford University “Deceiver! Deceiver! . . . Soon the whole Press, 1985), p. 127. world will know of your hideous crimes 2. Quoted in ibid., p. 118. and heartless cruelty.” Here the music 3. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and remains true to his separate stories, and Lorenzo da Ponte, ed. Georg the clash reveals them to be fundamen- Schünemann and Kurt Soldan, Don tally incompatible. And yet it is difficult Giovanni (New York: Dover to call the scene an unmasking. Yes, Publications, 1974), I:v, pp. 62-75. The Zerlina has seen with horror what English translations are my own Giovanni’s promised “marriage” really although I have also frequently referred means; and yes, Donna Anna positively to that of Avril Bardoni, which appears identifies him as her father’s killer. But in the booklet accompanying the the deepest questions about Don recording of Don Giovanni by the Giovanni—whether he is an ingenuous Drottningholm Court Theatre lover or a practiced seducer—remain Orchestra and Chorus, Arnold Öst- unanswered, and Mozart gives us no man, L’Oiseau-Lyre, 425 943-2. clues. 4. Ibid., II:i, pp. 233-5. Despite his criticism of Don 5. Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or, Giovanni, Beethoven was intrigued trans. David F. Swenson and Lillian enough by the opera to copy excerpts Marvin Swenson, 2 vols. (Princeton: into his sketch books to learn its secrets. Princeton University Press, 1959), 1:97. Nevertheless, he disapproved.19 The 6. Giacomo Casanova, Chevalier de music seems crafted deliberately to Seingalt, History of My Life, trans. entice and ensnare listeners, and on a Willard R. Trask, 12 vols. (New York: fundamental level it is silent about Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1966- Giovanni’s character. In the sacred can- 1971), 10:111. tatas of Bach, the music portrays all 7. Ibid., 11:111. manner of wickedness vividly and com- 8. Reverend John Tillotson, seven- pellingly, but it never tempts the listener teenth-century Archbishop of to become a sinner. Mozart’s Don Cambridge, defined sincerity as “con- Giovanni takes a different approach. stant plainness and honest openness of In a letter to his father, Mozart boasted: behaviour, free from all insidious “I can imitate and assimilate all kinds devices, and little tricks, and fetches of and styles of composition.”20 Therein craft and cunning: from all false lay Mozart’s genius and, as Beethoven appearances and deceitful disguises of well knew, his unwholesome powers. ourselves in word or action.” Sincerity, Tillotson continued, described concord ENDNOTES between word and thought, a state in

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which “our actions exactly agree to our inward purposes and intentions.” (Quoted in Leon Guilhamet, The Sincere Ideal: Studies on Sincerity in Eighteenth-Century English Literature [Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1974], 15-16.) 9. Mozart and da Ponte, Don Giovanni, I:xi-xii, pp. 101-2. 10. Ibid., I:ii, p. 34. 11. Related in La comtesse de Genlis, Dictionnarie critique et raisonné des étiquettes de la cour, in a footnote to the article “Opera,” 2:12-13. 12. Mozart and da Ponte, Don Giovanni, II:ii, pp. 235-45. 13. Ibid., I:ix, pp. 93-8. 14. The foregoing discussion of this aria owes much to the presentation by Professor Thomas Kelly in the Boston University Core Faculty Seminar, February 2, 2005. 15. Booklet accompanying Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Don Giovanni, Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra and Chorus, Arnold Öst- man, L’Oiseau-Lyre, 425 943-2, p. 90. 16. Mozart and da Ponte, Don Giovanni, I:xvi, pp. 148-56. 17. Ibid., p. 147. 18. Ibid., I:xx, pp. 180-227. 19. See Lewis Lockwood, Beethoven: The Music and the Life (New York and London: W. W. Norton, 2003), p. 253. 20. Quoted in Daniel Heartz, Mozart’s Operas (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), p. 37.

86 Brian Jorgensen

Dome Around the Sky after Aristophanes

B RIAN J ORGENSEN

Prelude to a performance of Aristophanes The Birds. (To a walking bass.)

Woke up this morning, peace was on my mind Woke up this morning, peace was on my mind Birds all singing, “Peace is yours to find” Looking for a piece of peace, looking hard all day I’m a hard-line man, for a piece of peace all day Peace, come lick my ear, and roll me in the hay Lawn-hopping robin, and the seagull soaring high Goldfinch black of wing, and the jay like sky Singing “Poor John Doe, trouble-trouble, and then you die” That land of peace, O birds, won’t you take me there Where every singing being has an equal share Gonna bring my computer, bring my kitchenware All the birds began to chirp and quack Saying “Take your peace and democracy and shove it up Iraq” “Inside your freezer there’s a dead duck lying on its back” “You bulldoze our trees, stick up a glass high-rise” “Fill the swamps and kill the worms and flies” I said “Birds, listen to me, we can get back to paradise” We build a dome, around the sky Birds, can’t we build a dome, dome around the sky If they invade our Peace Dome, we shoot ‘em down from on high

87 The Journal of the Core Curriculum

Guided missiles keep out, pollution go away It’s a perfect day for flying every day Stars that spell U S A (that is, Unchallengable Satrapy of the Avians) Pretty little songbirds flying from guys to chicks Pigeon truth squads crapping on Joe Guff and Mr. Slick Sparrows with invisible threads to raise limp virilities The domeless say we’ve got no spirit Chicken**** envy, don’t wanna hear it We do not ignore or attack the gods But provide them all with appropriate jobs Zeus, hang lasers in my skyway And help me execute justice my way Aphrodite, cast your golden light Over catalogues and internet sites Train cheerleaders and sweet flight crews And perky beauties to read bad news Golden goddess, let’s take a whack At making all things Aphrodisiac Apollo, help me strike from afar And make a boombox of my car Smile, Dionysius, on our scene As we drink blood from a movie screen Doc Ganymede, bring that immortal ambrosia Hermes, give me the tongue that snows ya Artemis, you’re in charge of my zoo Poseidon, I named my powerboat you Athena, program my PC Muses come dance around me, me, me Ares, keep out those terrorist ***** Broad-breasted earth, gonna suck your **** We’ll have a dome, dome around the sky Every Saturday, have us a chicken fry Gonna get wired, and my mind’s gonna fly

88 Brian Jorgensen

No more toil, no more strain Peace wired right to a spot in my brain No more “Look out!” no more “Ouch” Fly like an eagle, sitting on my couch No more pondering, no more sweat I can see birds never seen yet Got a dome, dome around the sky Got a dome, dome around the sky Elysian vibrations, right to the wires of my eyes Woke up this morning, peace was on my mind Woke up this morning, peace was on my mind Birds, won’t you fly me away from this heart of mine

Aristophanes, give ‘em hell, son And pass the cup to Professor Nelson Henderson translation is to be preferred He’s studied every single dirty word Classicists, let the story be heard, Of Peisetaerus and The Birds

89 The Journal of the Core Curriculum Knowing Krishna: Commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita

A LEX R AIKE

Robbed of knowledge by stray desires, men take refuge in other deities; observing varied rites, they are limited by their own nature. I grant unwavering faith to any devoted man who wants to worship any form with faith. Disciplined by that faith, he seeks the deity’s favor; this secured, he gains desires that I myself grant. But finite is the reward that comes to men of little wit; men who sacrifice to gods reach the gods; those devoted to me reach me. Men without understanding think that I am unmanifest nature become manifest; they are ignorant of my higher existence, my pure, unchanging absolute being.” Bhagavad-Gita, 7. 20-4

rishna grants “unwavering throughout the text as a whole. An faith” to those who worship accurate understanding of these lines Kother deities. While He allows relies on the teachings that precede it. the devotee to “reach the gods” and for The “stray desires” that Krishna desires to be attained, “finite is the speaks of are a result of the prakrti reward that comes to men of little wit.” (‘nature’) that blight Arjuna’s under- Such men are unable to reach Krishna, standing of Krishna and of his own and are doomed to continue their per- purusha (‘spirit’ or ‘soul’) as well. petual samsara (cycle of birth and re- “Knowing the self beyond understand- birth). Why does Krishna allow these ing, sustain the self with the self. Great individuals to “reach” their respective Warrior, kill the enemy menacing you in deities—in a sense realize their own the form of desire!” (3.43). The desires higher power—while they are pursuing harbored through a belief in false deities a false divinity? Why would Krishna must be conquered within the self. In acknowledge the existence of other many ways, Arjuna’s disposition deities when he alone is the one? How between the two armies on the battle- is this idea reconciled with the rest of field is symbolic of the conflict that Krishna’s teachings? Answers to such exists in his own heart. This is evident questions are absent within the context in 2.6 and 2.7: “We don’t know which of the passage itself, but guidance as to weight is worse to bear-our conquering its ultimate meaning is presented them or their conquering us . . . con-

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flicting sacred duties confound my rea- blindly in Krishna’s advice. son.” Arjuna’s indecision proves that he “Understanding is defined in terms of has not yet mastered his own self. philosophy; now hear it in spiritual dis- Krishna warns him further: “The self is cipline. Armed with this understanding, the friend of a man who masters him- Arjuna, you will escape the bondage of self through the self, but for a man action” (2.39). In addition, Arjuna must without self-mastery, the self is like an escape his personal bondage of pity and enemy at war” (6.6). Arjuna’s only doubt, manifested in his reluctance to means to self-realization lie in Krishna’s commence the battle. Such detachment advice. He must utilize these teachings from action is necessary to the process in order to seek the truth and to cease of “knowing the self beyond under- from being a man “of little wit.” In standing.” Arjuna must be able to ‘sus- context, the concept that precedes the tain the self with the self ’: “When his paramount idea of “knowing the self ” thought ceases, checked by the exercise lays out a hierarchy of the recognized of discipline, he is content within the faculties of existence: “the mind [is] self, seeing the self through himself ” superior to the senses, understanding (6.20). The idea of seeing the self superior to the mind; higher than under- through the self is the necessary step standing is the self ” (2.42). To better away from the ordinary in order to reach grasp “the self beyond understanding,” an extraordinary state of being. For it is Krishna instructs Arjuna: “He who only through this state that Arjuna can thinks himself a killer and he who reach Krishna. More importantly, thinks it is killed, both fail to under- “When he gives up desires in his mind, stand; it does not kill, nor is it killed” is content with the self within himself, (2.19). Here Krishna’s words contradict then he is said to be a man whose reason; they explicate the enigmatic insight is sure” (2.55). The insight workings of the universe that Arjuna described is exactly what devotees of must grasp. He clarifies by explaining alternative deities lack. Such men are that “the self embodied in the body of lost in the realm of external nature, thus every being is indestructible” (2.30). able to worship “any form with faith.” This again refers to the purusha that Krishna commands him to transcend exists in every living thing. The concept prakrti: “the realm of sacred lore is of the “self beyond understanding” is nature-beyond its triad of qualities, difficult to grasp. Krishna explains: dualities, and mundane rewards, be for- “Rarely someone sees it, rarely another ever lucid, alive to yourself ” (2.45). speaks it, rarely anyone hears it —even Arjuna asks: “what makes a person hearing it, no one really knows it” (2.29). commit evil?” (3.36) to which Krishna In order to find his true self and realize replies: “It is desire and anger, arising the nature of his own purusha, Arjuna from nature’s quality of passion; know it must detach from action and trust here as the enemy” (3.37). This struggle

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against “the enemy” is a metaphor for presence”(4.10). Here the concept of resisting the temptations that constantly fear points to the presence of Arjuna’s blight Arjuna’s soul. Krishna can only “ignorant doubt.” Arjuna must detach be reached once these passions cease to from everything he has formerly known exist and duty is fulfilled. Only then can and undoubtedly pursue the knowledge they approach Krishna’s “higher exis- that exists through Krishna’s insight. tence, [his] pure, unchanging, absolute Krishna explains the proper course of being.” “Knowledge is obscured by the action to destroy such doubt: “offer all wise man’s eternal enemy, which takes actions of the senses and all actions of the from as desire, an insatiable fire” breath in the fire of discipline kindled (3.39). Knowledge separates those who by knowledge—the mastery of one’s are “limited by their own nature” from self ” (4.27). Proving the inextricable those who can find refuge in Krishna. link between the self and knowledge, Arjuna must grasp the character of Arjuna now sees the path that Krishna knowledge and recognize the dangers prescribes. Actions can only be “wholly that threaten reaching Krishna. “The dissolved” when “reason [is] deep in senses, mind, and understanding are said knowledge, acting only in sacri- to harbor desire; with these desire fice”(4.23). Krishna furthers this point obscures knowledge and confounds the in 4.41: “actions do not bind a man in embodied self ” (3.40). Krishna speaks possession of himself, who renounces to the “Great Warrior” as the duality of action through discipline and severs Arjuna’s battles continue. Arjuna must doubt with knowledge.” After Arjuna now use his new-found sense of self has attained his “sword of self-knowl- coupled with knowledge of a “higher edge,” Krishna commands him: “Arise!” existence” to transcend the misconcep- The idea of ascent and descent in the tions that currently cloud his ability to Gita is symbolic of knowledge and obey Krishna’s teachings. ignorance as well as the call and fulfill- “So sever the ignorant doubt with- ment of dharma (‘duty’). The most in your heart with the sword of self notably important examples bookend knowledge, Arjuna! Observe your disci- the text. The beginning passage pline! Arise!” (4.42). Krishna tells (“Arjuna slumped into the chariot and Arjuna that “this is the deepest mys- laid down his bow and arrows, his mind tery” (4.3). Krishna explains the tormented by grief ”[1.47]) displays his supreme power of knowledge and its confusion and need of counsel due to importance in ending the cycle of an inner doubt of his own dharma. rebirth. Once this is attained, the sam- After Krishna’s teaching has concluded, sara ends, for “those devoted to me Arjuna proclaims his new found wis- [Krishna] reach me.” “Free from attrac- dom: “my delusion is destroyed, and by tion, fear, and anger . . . purified by the your grace I have regained memory, I fire of knowledge, many come into my stand here, my doubt dispelled, ready to

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Krishna counsels Arjuna on the battlefield. act on your words” (18.73). The physi- izes his relationship to Krishna. cal act of standing implies that Arjuna’s Krishna is within him; it is up to Arjuna doubts have been transformed through to seek the “unchanging being” and rise self-knowledge. As Arjuna begins to above the external world to understand understand, Krishna reassures him: “I the totality of Krishna’s power. am impartial to all creatures, and no one The Seventh Teaching functions as is hateful or dear to me; but men devot- the bridge between the instructional ed to me are in me, and I am within phase of Krishna’s counsel and the dis- them” (9.29). It is now that Arjuna real- play of qualities and supreme wisdom

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that Krishna alone exhibits. Krishna very self. Krishna is attempting to con- conveys his paramount esteem for vey the magnificence of the relationship knowledge during this crucial part of between himself and knowledge. He the text which directly preceeds the explains the vitality and necessity of original theological passage in question. acknowledging his existence as “the highest way,” for this knowledge alone The disciplined man of knowledge can set one free from the endless cycle is set apart by his singular devotion; I am dear to the man of knowledge, of rebirth. The discussion of samsara and he is dear to me. They are all and the path to moksha (freedom from noble, but I regard the man of the cycle of reincarnation) are best rep- knowledge to be my very self; self- resented through the symbolism accom- disciplined, he holds me to be the panying the text in its illumination of highest way. At the end of many the life cycle. “All creatures are bewil- births, the man of knowledge finds dered at birth by the delusion of oppos- refuge in me; he is the rare great ing dualities that arise from desire and spirit who sees “Krishna is all that hatred” (7.27). The inevitability of the is” (7.17-20). danger in prakrti that plagues the soul The “disciplined man of knowledge is becomes evident. It is the “bewilder- set apart” because “[knowledge and ment” that causes most to be “limited judgment] known, nothing else in the by their own nature.” The previously world need be known.” (7.2). described delusion must be overcome in Knowledge is the most fundamental order to see that “Krishna is all that is;” characteristic of a life of devotion and if not, “finite is the reward that comes the most important of all criteria to to men of little wit.” It is only once reach Krishna. He is “dear to the man these opposing forces are properly rele- of knowledge” because only through gated through knowledge and discipline knowledge can one reach Krishna. This of the self within the self, that men can is evident as men are “robbed of knowl- “know [Krishna] as [their] inner being, edge by stray desires.” The reciprocity inner divinity, and inner sacrifice . . . apparent within Krishna’s relationship [men] know [Krishna] at a time of to the man of knowledge runs parallel death” (7.30). to the discussion of atman (‘spirit’, Throughout the Bhagavad-Gita, ‘essence’): “Arming himself with disci- the mystery that is Krishna unfolds pline . . . he sees the self in all creatures piece by piece, until eventually the read- and all creatures in the self ” (6.29). er can realistically map out the ways and Krishna proclaims, “I exist in all crea- workings of Krishna’s role in the uni- tures, so the disciplined man devoted to verse. The process illuminates the me grasps the oneness of life; wherever rationale behind Krishna’s acknowl- he is, he is in me” (6.31). It is in this edgement of other deities. The funda- sense that the man of knowledge is his mental difference between the Gita and

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nearly all other religious texts lies in its embracement of other religions from a humanistic approach. Where Western religions tend to apply an emphasis on devotion and exclusivity to their own higher power, Krishna seems to encom- pass them all: “When devoted men sacrifice to other deities with faith, they sacrifice to me, Arjuna, however aber- rant the rites” (9.23). Here the devotees possess the necessary knowledge but are blinded by “stray desires” and, in turn, fail to fulfill the extent of such knowledge and are unable to grasp Krishna’s “pure, unchanging, absolute being.” It is in this sense that Krishna is, on many levels, synonymous with supreme knowledge. It is this knowledge that allows the followers of Krishna to take a unique and active ownership in their faith. The quest for a higher understanding of the transcendental universe ultimately explains why Krishna regards the man of knowledge to be his very self. This particular interpretation allows for an approach of individuality to the claim that “Krishna [i.e. knowledge] is all that is” and widens the extent to which knowledge may be viewed as a profound theological approach by giving meaning to the journey of life.

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The Analects Of Core Y EAR 2

“There is no tendency to resignation in the feverish impatience of men’s lives . . . Since imagination is hun- gry for novelty, and ungoverned, it gropes at random.” -Emile Durkheim, Suicide

“I sometimes think that all you tell me of knighthood, kingdoms, empires and islands is all windy blather and lies.” -Sancho, Don Quixote

“The bees pillage the flowers here and there but they make honey of them which is all their own; it is no longer thyme or marjolaine: so the pieces borrowed from others he will transform and mix up into a work all his own.” -Montaigne, Essays

“ . . . no arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” -Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

“To stay in one’s room away from the place where the party is given, or away from the place where the practitioner attends his clinet, is to stay away from where the reality is being performed. The world, in truth, is a wedding.” -Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self

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“Here is the plain man’s real heaven— Great and small in a riot of fun; Here I’m a man—and dare be one.” -Dr. Johann Faust, Faust

“ ...ifevery man could read the hearts of others there would be more men anxious to descend than to rise in life.” -Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Confessions

“I maintain it is much safer to be feared than loved, if you have to do without one of the two.” -Machiavelli, The Prince

“When my colleague Ned Block told his father that he would major in the subject [Philosophy], his father’s reply was ‘Luft!’—Yiddish for ‘air.’” -Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate

“The Puritan wanted to be a person of a vocational calling; today we are forced to be.” -Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic & the Spirit of Capitalism

“I am two fools, I know For loving, and for saying so.” -John Donne, “The Triple Fool”

“I too am a bit tamed ...I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”

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Breakfast in the Freezer M ELISSA D E J ESUS

—Sugarsweet wet, I would wake up unsprawling in pale blue that zipped from my crotch to my throat. The white tread foot bottoms, now balled hard and knobby, my feet on the inside slid smooth in my sweat. Long twisted tree fingers patterned over my bedspread a filigree light glanced off the ice-hardened snow. I would rip the blue down from my light yellow body and run down the stairs on fist-sized naked feet. In lambsleather slippers, she stood by the glass looking out at white suburbs she chose not to see. We would eat ice-flaked blueberries straight from the freezer, Mama! robins in fir trees, she’d let me name each one. She’d cradle me naked, thumb-sucking, and yolk-round. I’d cover myself in her safe motherwhite (the bland chemo of her pressed to yellow of me was not part of my race but on her part diseased). Her arms sagged beside me, and the soft faded fabric of her soiled mauve robe was draped limp on the arms of the new wicker rocker that curled underneath us and shook as she leaned all our weight to the ground. And her stare out the windows had stretched to the field from the veined sledding hill to the russet-stained school. And the dark of her eyelids, the whole winter silence had been her fault, not mine. I asked her to sing. Then that motionless moment she held me was more than the rest of the morning, and weekends, combined. Not seeing me, patting a triple slow rhythm, she called on to chariots, Lo! swing now, O swing!

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D ANIEL H UDON

avana: I’ve always liked the WELCOME TO HAVANA sound of the name. To me, After dumping my bag in my room it conjures a dance hall in the casa, I opened the window to find after the crowd has left and out where the salsa music was coming Hthe once-enthusiastic band members are from. Below me, in the compound next beginning to pack up their instruments. door, two dozen sexy young women Maybe there’s still a pair of lovers were rehearsing a salsa dance routine, draped over each other in the middle of presumably for New Year’s Eve. With the dance floor, a few men smoking in one line weaving into another, rhythmic the corner tables refusing to believe it’s hip sashays and hair flicks, it was a visu- over. Havana. Whenever I heard that al treat. tourists were now going to Cuba in CASA PARTICULAR droves, I thought about Havana. It was My private accommodations were on television a few days before I left: adequate, though my room was in the gangsters, old cars and an offer you can’t apartment adjacent to the one I had refuse in The Godfather II. Havana. booked (so, probably an illegal arrange- Sunny and 77 degrees. Seems that was ment); I found out I had to knock on the forecast for the entire two weeks I the door of the apartment in order to was in Cuba. As the plane descended use the terrace—one of the reasons I’d into Havana, the temperature rose and I taken the place. I noticed there was an shed layers of clothing. On the ground, elevator to the third floor, but no stairs. the air was thick and enveloping. That And, my room had two bedside lamps, warm tropical air that tells you right one white and one red, possibly indicat- away you’re somewhere different, some- ing that the owners, a friendly, middle- where exotic. aged, middle-class couple, turned a

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blind eye to the rampant and illegal Habana Club, a local bar far enough prostitution. from the posh Hotel Nacional to not be A license to run a casa particular touristy. Luxurious, high-backed wicker costs the owners $150 per month (a chairs on the wide terrace were full of surefire way to limit profits), so if they couples and groups so I pulled up a are only charging $30 per night, they are stool at the makeshift kitchen-counter always looking for additional ways to style bar. The bartender patiently make ends meet. Hence, they serve ground up some limes and mixed me meals: dinner for $8 and breakfast for the best cuba libre I was to have over $3-$5. The rumors about bland Cuban the entire trip. Next to me were a pair of food are unfortunately true. Though I slurring, happy drunks who soon turned had heaping portions of pork, salad and their attention to me. Roberto was griz- rice and beans, no spices were to be zled, white and in his fifties, and found in the food or out (only salt Antonio (“Tony”) was scrawny, 30-ish, appeared on the table, no pepper). The clean-cut, black and always smiling. owner, Ramon, popped in and out while Tony could air play an entire band—he I ate and asked in Spanish if everything played a series of guitar chords on my was fine. Yes, fine, I said, and thought, forearm. They knew only the odd fine and plain. English words, so I had to summon all THE HAPPY DRUNKS my Spanish—and patience—to talk to After dinner at my casa, I walked them. several blocks to the Casa Del Coctel We had a wide-ranging, rambling,

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amusing conversation. Roberto said that bit. And we’ve been saying that each the tourist resort city of Veradero was- year for 45 years.” Ouch. It was the n’t the true Cuba, that it had no heart. most telling comment I was to hear He didn’t say where the heart of Cuba about life in Cuba. was, but Cienfuegos and Trinidad, my CASTRO AND CHE AND JOSE next destinations, both seemed to be in Apparently, Fidel Castro doesn’t the running as they were each men- like images of himself so there’s no per- tioned several times. He said there were sonality cult like there is in other com- many Cubas, that Cuba is black (like munist countries. However, Che Tony), white (like him), that it’s the Guevara is still revered as a hero. whole island, not just Veradero. A five-story outline of his face, They loved Canada, and they espe- with the trademark beret, overlooks the cially loved Celine Dion. According to Plaza de la Revolucion, and postcard them, she was much better than any racks around the city feature dozens of American singer, and Roberto even sang candid black and white Che photos. a few bars of her song from Titanic. They were surprised I wasn’t as impressed. Talking more about music, Roberto voted the Beatles as the number one band (“grupo”) in the world and wasn’t pleased that I nominated, for argument’s sake, the Stones as number two. He came back with Blood, Sweat and Tears for number three, a mostly forgotten 70’s band whose songs I was soon to hear in Cienfuegos. Tony didn’t agree More common than images of Che are with any of this and thought the best statues and memorials of Jose Marti, bands were Queen, Kiss and Led who opposed colonial rule at the turn of Zeppelin! the 20th century and is the spiritual Roberto said he didn’t want to talk leader of the country. politics, but considering the year end, he A BIRTHMARK SHAPED LIKE said, “Next year, we hope things are a CUBA little bit better than this year. Just a little In the morning, on my way to the

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Biblioteca Nacional Jose Marti to meet often in top condition. How they get the Katie, the cousin of an Australian parts I have no idea. but I now have a friend, I stopped in a park. Soon a new respect for the ‘57 Chevy. teenaged girl came up to talk to me. I Amusingly, several times I heard horns feared she was an underaged prostitute, with the theme from The Godfather. but it turned out she just wanted to talk HAPPY NEW YEAR to a foreigner. She gave me recommen- On the Malecon, the oceanside dations on where to go in Cuba by walkway that runs the length of Havana, pointing to the birthmark shaped like girls wished all passersby “Feliz Nueva Cuba on her stomach. She also recom- Ano.” They loved it when I shouted mended that I visit Havana’s Chinatown back, “Y tu tambien (And to you too)!” —she couldn’t believe there were old NEW YEAR’S EVE Chinese people, middle-aged Chinese I met Katie again in the evening people and young Chinese people in and we went to meet some of the Chinatown, along with Chinese food. Australian friends, Madeline and David, Every few minutes she would ask me if she’d met on the airplane. We all jumped I understood her and I would laugh, in a taxi, zipped down to Old Havana, hold up my thumb and forefinger and and wound up in Café Paris, where the say, “Un poco.” She would laugh too band was hopping and the drinks went and then launch into another patient down quickly. Katie really wanted to explanation. When we parted I thanked dance. “Go dancing in Havana” was on her for the conversation and she said it her life to-do list, so I was happy to was “Muy divertido” (Very fun). oblige. We were right up in front of the OLD CARS band doing our best. She’s a pretty It’s true. They are everywhere, woman: always smiling and dressed to the nines, so I was the envy of the band and many of the men in the audi- ence. NOT SO HAPPY NEW YEAR Another Australian guy was supposed to join us that night but he was suffering from food

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poisoning. Madeline went back to col- ple, including two women. I looked at lect him around 10:30 pm, but he was them but didn’t say anything. As I still unable to come out. Around 1:00 passed, I smiled. A moment later, they am he felt a bit better and thought he’d were laughing loudly. I turned to look. try to find us. But a few blocks from his The two women were pointing to each casa, he was jumped by five guys and other and saying, “He smiled at you! No, robbed of everything he had, including he smiled at YOU!” his ring and shoes. Ouch. DINNER AT THE CASA WELCOME TO CIENFUEGOS Dinner was served in a pleasant I was already convinced that back terrace. Victor was pleased I’d cho- Cienfuegos was a special place when a sen the fish, which was his favourite. He tout from the bus station led me to ten brought out a little boombox for Cuban different private houses to help find music and made a point of seating me accommodation in the booked-up town himself. I felt guilty I hadn’t dressed up and didn’t ask anything in return. I a bit to be more worthy of his efforts. wound up staying at a place run by an TRANQUILO exceptionally welcoming and genuinely At night, Cienfuegos becomes a friendly brother and sister, Victor and ghost town; the streets are completely Celia. They always addressed me by empty, devoid even of parked cars. name. Lying in bed, you hear only the occa- Later, with my hat and sunglasses sional sound of a horse and carriage on, I walked down the boulevard. A clopping down the road. black man approached from the other TRINIDADIAN TROUBADOUR direction. When he was right next to I met Katie again in Trinidad, a me, without looking at me, he raised his well-preserved colonial town with cob- hand. I slapped it in a “high five” and blestone streets and an abundance both both of us continued our respective of live music and tourists. We met some ways. Neither of us looked back. I felt Americans (who over the week became like I’d just been admitted to the broth- very nervous about the fines they faced erhood of Cienfuegos. if they got caught traveling in Cuba) and SITTING ON THE TIP OF THE BAY went to a small hotel bar where a trou- Cienfuegos tapers down to Punta badour was trying to sing over some Gorda, a sliver of land that juts into a loud, proud Hungarians who were in bay and is capped by a picturesque open the process of getting loudly, proudly air bar. Naturally, the bartenders there drunk. The troubadour’s name was promise to make the best mojitos (rum, Israel, and over my week in Trinidad I lemon juice, soda, sugar, a mint leaf and went to hear him several times. One ice) in town. Naturally, I had to try one. night, on my way back from a disco It was definitely potent. On my way around 1:00 am, I found that he’d back to town, I passed a group of peo- assembled a crowd on the steps of the

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church after his bar had closed. Mabel was a large Caribbean Someone produced a bottle of rum, and woman and believed that whatever he played his quiet, passionate songs for needed to be talked about, needed to be another hour under the stars. talked about LOUDLY. She was always MUSIC hollering over the back wall to a neigh- On the whole, Cuban people do bour, or for her husband, or at Fatima. seem rather hard done by. But despite Electricity and hot water were also both the air of malaise, there’s also music unpredictable so I believe I had an everywhere—in the bars, blasting out of authentic Cuban home experience. apartment windows, blaring from the (Maybe at times too authentic.) radios of bicycle taxis—so they’ve got MAKING ENDS MEETING some kick in them yet. An oldtimer who lived right next And a thousand thanks to Ry to the main plaza in Trinidad invited me Cooder and the Buena Vista Social Club into his place to show off his old 1940’s for ensuring that we tourists hear more console radio. It worked like a damn. He than just endless renditions of then offered me hats, jewelry and cof- “Guantanamera”. fee. I turned down all but the coffee. He Next to the church in the plaza in showed me his wedding photos and I Trinidad a grand series of steps led up showed him my photo album. It was to a restaurant and midway up, each difficult to make a graceful exit as he put night, a different band performed at a hat on my head and kept telling me nine o’clock. With perhaps a couple how good it looked on me. hundred people sitting at tables and on BICYCLES the steps, it was a great place to have an The trick is getting a good one. evening drink. Twice I rented bicycles with ultra-hard MABEL’S CASA too-low seats that couldn’t be raised any I was envious that Katie had a roof further. Still, it was a pleasant way to get terrace at her casa. When I arrived, the to the beach, 16 km away. You head town was completely booked up so I down the hill to La Boca, a quiet fishing had to settle for Mabel’s place, a colonial village, and then along a deserted coastal home with a courtyard that was perpet- road to Playa Ancon. It’s the way back, ually filled with drying laundry. Alas. uphill, that’s the killer. However, each of However, a bonus feature was the the two days I came back at sunset, so grandmother who often cranked the the empty road, with the pounding surf music and danced, in order to encour- beside it, was especially evocative. age her 3-year-old granddaughter, ILLEGAL LUNCH Fatima. Eventually, Fatima obliged and The beach is just what you want. A both Mabel and grandmother soon vast expanse of sand, some trees for joined her, treating it as a milestone shade and water that’s a refreshing tem- event. perature. Then, as a bonus, fishermen

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come around and offer you a lobster lunch for seven dollars. It’s illegal, because the lobster, I believe, is supposed to be for the state-run restaurants. But as with many things in Cuba, where there’s a will there’s a way. It was missing the melted butter, but it was still a good-sized tail, and beach. Angelika was training to be a hey, fresh lobster on the beach, what masseuse, so I sacrificed myself to be more could you want? practiced upon. It was pretty tough hav- SWEDISH INTERLUDE ing a massage at the beach, but hey, you I met not one, not two, but three gotta do what you gotta do. beautiful Swedish women: Angelika, Sunday, they were all excited about Elinor, and Jenny. They all spoke excel- road-tripping an hour and a half back to lent English and were staying at a hotel Cienfuegos to go swimming with the on the beach. We wound up spending dolphins. I thought it was a little expen- much of the weekend together. Friday, sive—50 bucks!—but couldn’t say no. we went horseback riding to a waterfall Upon arrival, I was disappointed to find nested deep in a gorge, where we went out that you don’t get to actually swim for a swim. I’d been talking about the freely with the dolphins. Instead, it’s all numerous and beautiful waterfalls in orchestrated: the trainer has you do dif- Thailand, and they were sure I’d be dis- ferent things, like slap the water, so that appointed when I saw our destination. the dolphins come up to you for a kiss Not true. It was definitely worth swim- or to have their bellies stroked. ming in. We went mid-day and lucked Occasionally you get to look in their out because it was mostly cloudy—oth- eyes and see them as magnanimous, erwise, we would have surely baked. The docile creatures. The best was saved for main site along the way in was a teak last and I was the lucky one who got to forest. The way back was easy-going and go first. No one knew what to expect. it was pleasant to clop along quiet farm The trainer told me to float on my roads surrounded by mountains. We stomach and keep my legs straight. He hummed old Western tunes. added that I should raise my arms when Saturday, we hung out at their I began to move. I was still thinking

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about the instructions when, suddenly, and noise of Havana. on the soles of my feet, I felt two dol- PEOPLE ON THE MOVE phin noses propelling me rapidly for- Crowds of people lined the high- ward. I raised my arms and rose out of ways trying to hitch rides. I have no idea the water, balanced expertly on the dol- how long they had to wait. Maybe days. phin noses, like a seasoned aquatic cir- SARA’S TERRACE cus performer. After swimming about I changed to a different casa in 30 feet, the dolphins stopped abruptly Centro Havana when I returned (instead and, launched from their noses, I of my first place in Vedado), to try a dif- plunged back into the pool. What a ferent area of town. Really, I just want- hoot! They repeated the trick with ed a terrace or balcony with a view, and everyone else, and each time the dol- at Sara’s I wasn’t disappointed. It was phins pulled it off perfectly. Impressive! among rows of two- and three-story In the evenings we went to the dis- apartment buildings, with a view up and cos. One disco was open air, at the Casa down the street. Not much of a view, de la Musica, so we danced under the but at least it was a pleasant place to sit stars. The other was deep in a cave, and enjoy a novel in the late afternoon complete with flashing lights, disco ball light. And there was much more pulse in Centro than there was in Vedado. When I left, I gave Sara the extra bottles of aspirin that I’d brought. Her excited reaction made me think I was giving her something very rare. HEMINGWAY’S BAR I gave a pass on Hemingway’s touristy “Floridita Bar” and went next door where an entire and fog. That, too, was a hoot! Both table of eight was drumming along with nights I felt pretty lucky to be showing the band. Great atmosphere. There and up with my lovely entourage. at one other place, however, I tried TAXI DRIVERS unsuccessfully to order a daiquiri, They were generally very chatty and Hemingway’s famed drink. Maybe I I had some good conversations with should have gone to the Floridita after them. In Trinidad, Nelson, who clarified all. that he was “not Nelson Mandela,” pre- WHISPERING ferred the quieter life there to the bustle Every day all day people come up

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to you and whispered, “Cigar?” “Cigar, was a fascinating collection. We motor- sir?” “You want to buy cigar?” cycled back along the Malecon and then Mercifully, they do take no for an met again in the evening, along with answer. I finally gave in on my last day another Canadian, Ismal. Ismal was and bought some for cigar aficionados doing development work in trying to among Core faculty. (Because they’re promote roof gardens for restaurants. considered contraband, you can forget I We went for a nightcap at the Café Paris just told you that.) and he bought me a drink “courtesy of In Trinidad, touts whisper to you to the Government of Canada.” That was come for a private (illegal) dinner. a bonus because I was almost out of Presumably, eight bucks for dinner goes pesos. a long way if monthly salaries are only “THIS IS THE LAST DAY OF OUR ten to twenty bucks. ACQUAINTANCE” MISSED PHOTOS The refrain from this song, by I usually keep a mental tally of pho- Sinead O’Connor, is my “thanks, I’m tos that I miss for one reason or anoth- leaving” song, and on my travels I start er. On this trip, virtually all of the singing it when I get up on the day of missed photos were of old men sitting my departure, sometimes the day on their stoops puffing on their cigars. before. My flight wasn’t until 4:00 pm so MOTORCYLE DIARY I had the whole morning to do last On my second last day, I wanted to minute things. But nothing worked out! hang out in Old Havana, and have an I couldn’t find the cute little handmade easy day of moseying from cafés to journals I’d wanted to buy the day plazas to the Malecon. But in the morn- before; the friendly, funny waiter at the ing I phoned Roberto, the contact of a café I liked wasn’t there; I got ripped off friend from Toronto. He invited me to on exchanging my last twenty bucks; come over and see his work. It was way and Sara was mopping and laundering over in Miramar, the absolute other side on the balcony of the casa so I couldn’t of town. So, instead of soaking up the spend my final hour relaxing out there. life of old town Havana (and my bal- Ah, Cuba! cony), I was using up my last pesos zip- ADIOS ping across town. However, Roberto My final taxi driver spoke a lot of was an energetic guy who gave me a English so we had an animated conver- tour of the Foundation of Antonio sation on the way to the airport. Seems Nunez Jiminez, a local writer, explorer he’d been a slacker and now resolved to and associate of Castro. The devote more time to his wife and two Foundation had an enormous library, young sons. He wanted to know if my plus two large rooms of artifacts that heart was clear, if I was happy. I said it Jimenez had collected on his travels, was and I was. from fossils to pottery and statuettes; it

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E RIKA C ONNOLLY

y courteous readers, as For instance, my wife’s high heeled you may well be aware shoes were strikingly similar to those (for word spreads quickly worn by the High-Heels of Lilliput (of nowadays), my professed course, hers were just slightly larger in Mretirement from sea travel was apprecia- size). And my daughter’s polka-dotted bly premature. In fact, only five years dress brought to mind that hapless race after the publication of my Traveler’s of Struldbruggs, whose immortality was Narrative, I found myself longing ever indicated by a red spot that appeared on more fervently for adventure. And, each of their foreheads at birth. Even mind you, this longing was like an my son’s prodigious use of salt at meal- unquenchable thirst—better yet, like a times was partly responsible for my burning flame whose sheer intensity decision to leave—for, smelling the salt, rivaled that of our very own sun. my senses were flooded with sweet Alas, I must confess that my family memories of the ocean. Ahh, yes ...I and friends did little to stifle this fire could feel the cool wind blowing away ablaze within me. On the contrary, they my troubles; I could see the sea’s foamy merely heaped more kindling upon the waves pushing me ever closer to shores altar (metaphorically speaking, of as yet unexplored; I could even hear the course). In truth, during my brief (yet seagulls overhead, flapping their wings seemingly eternal) stay at my House in and singing their heavenly song. Redcliff—where I had determined to Now, I must admit, rather than live out my days—even the most trivial fighting against my ardent passions, I of things served to remind me of that opted to let them win. Yes indeed, I wondrous nomadic existence of my succumbed to them, and I have allowed youth. my emotions to guide me ever since.

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Yet, weak-minded, spineless, and cow- fruition. As I should have expected, our ardly I am not. Rather, having been tiresome (and nauseatingly convention- tamed (so to speak) by those virtuous al) exchange of goodbyes took up a Houyhnhnms on whose island I was good several hours of my time. And, if most fortunate enough to have landed you ask me, not a single of their ges- several years back, I was no longer like tures was sincere. If I didn’t know them my fellow man. I was different; I was better—if I wasn’t aware of their great unique. I was . . . another breed, you love for me—I’d be inclined to draw might say. some most unsettling of conclusions Alright, alright, so I wasn’t exactly from our discourse. another breed. I’ll admit (although it Although the day got off to an pains me to do so), I was still a Yahoo, admittedly shaky start, Fortune was on and will forever remain a Yahoo. Yet, my side. Thankfully, for my sake, the Yahoo as I am, I was able to remove that winds proved favorable, the ocean was infernal Habit of Lying, Shuffling, calm, and the sun melted away every Deceiving, and Equivocating, so deeply cloud in its reach. I was free at last— rooted in the very souls of all my free from the chains of society; free species, especially the Europeans (Swift from the burden of my family; free to 8) Hence, as any honest man will sure- map out my own future, without an ly verify (if such a man exists), I’m sim- ounce of concern for others. Ahh, yes, ply and truly an exception to the rule. my design was, if possible, to discover As a result of my newfound insight some small island uninhabited, yet suffi- into human nature, I couldn’t help but cient by My Labour to furnish me with regard my fellow neighbors—not to the Necessaries of Life (Swift 260). mention my wife and children—with Once there, I could live in peace and contempt. For, in my humbled view, quiet. Truly, my imagination alone was they were nothing but mere Lumps of enough to satisfy my mind’s curiosity, Deformity. Suffice it to say, although I and Nature’s dazzling beauty was undertook to stomach their company, enough to soothe my soul. my efforts proved in vain. The truth be Eventually, after allowing my boat told, these gluttonous beasts have not a to steer itself for several weeks, I spot- single strength to speak of. Hence, ted a stretch of land in the distance. rather than delaying the inevitable, I With oar in hand, I paddled my way decided to depart at once from my towards the island, hoping for the best. House at Redcliff. As I got closer, however, I noticed that On the 21st of May, 1720, I set sail, something was not quite right. No, no, heading North-North East. I had no . . . strike that. Let me be more accu- intended to leave in the early morning, rate, for the sake of clarity. In actuality, before sunrise, but my family prevented something was terribly wrong. For, in this plan of mine from coming to the shallow water near the island’s sandy

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shore, birds of all kinds were swimming conversation with a congregation of —pelicans, flamingos, cardinals, and the flying pigs (whose English, I must say, like. And, to my surprise, fish that was superb). I approached him and, should have been restricted to the sea interrupting one of those incredible were flying through the air. Clearly, talking swine, I asked him his name. these two creatures—one of land, the “Rousseau,” he replied noncha- other of sea—were defying the physical latnly. “J. J. Rousseau.” laws that governed our world. Now, although I was as yet ill- Upon closer inspection of this equipped to judge my new acquaintance, mysterious island before me, I became he struck me as the docile type—he was aware of countless other inconsistencies soft-spoken, his voice gentle, his man- that would have shocked even the most ner reserved. All told, he seemed far ignorant of men. For instance, whereas too sensitive to be a fellow Yahoo . . . half of the island was bathed in bright perhaps, he was a tamed one (a convert, sunshine, the other half was shrouded so to speak), like me. Fueled by this in darkness. Can day and night coexist, prospect, I prodded him with a myriad one alongside the other, I thought to of questions, so as to determine myself? Apparently, they can . . . well, at whether or not he was, in fact, another least here. Likewise, the weather condi- “exception to the rule.” tions seemed to be in conflict—icy “Well, well,” said Rousseau, “you’re flakes of snow were falling from the right on the mark there, Gulliver ...was heavens, and yet my shirt was doused in that the name, young lad? Anyway, as I sweat. was saying, I am made unlike any one I Understandably, I didn’t quite know have ever met; I will venture to say that what to make of these peculiar proceed- I am like no one in the whole world ings. However, having come across sim- (Rousseau Confessions 17). Alas, ilarly unusual sights on isles both near because of my uniqueness—my too and far, I was not in the least bit flus- tender and affectionate nature, which tered. In fact, curiosity propelled me find no living creatures akin to them forward—I was simply bubbling with (Confessions 48)—I had no alternative excitement. Thus, without further ado, but to flee from my homeland. For how I docked my now battered boat along could I possibly dwell among such the island’s edge, and I began to investi- brutes, without falling to my knees in gate the premises. shame? Henceforth, I opted to try my I didn’t get very far before running hand at sea-faring, with the hopes of into a disheveled looking man. The one day reaching a deserted island to call strange thing was, this man was perched my own. Naturally, it seemed to me that upon a cloud, which was hovering sev- on that island I should be further eral meters above the beach. Stranger removed from men, safer from their still, he was carrying out a full-blown insults” (Confessions 589)

110 Erika Connolly

“Oh, how most remarkable!” I island, nobody can bother me. I’m free burst forth with glee, cutting his mono- to pursue my own interests, to live logue prematurely short. “Your story according to my own principles, and to seems to be an exact parallel of mine! obey my own set of guidelines.” But please continue, I’m anxious to “Of course,” he said with a smirk, learn more.” And so Rousseau offered “as I’m sure you’ve realized, societal up a lengthy account of his voyage by conventions aren’t applicable here. In sea, devoting special attention to the fact, none of the physical laws that so numerous trials and tribulations that he callously bind us down in Europe hold had encountered along the way—light- any weight, at all. Take gravity, for ning storms, food shortages, leaks in his example. Back on the mainland, we had vessel, and so forth. By the end of his no choice but to obey the law of gravi- account, I was so taken up with pity for ty. Yet, on my island, I can rise and fall the poor man that I began to cry. as I please—I can sprawl myself out on However, Rousseau told me to dry the nearest cloud; I can lay myself down my tears. “Now Gulliver, I don’t want on the sandy coastline. In essence, I can to upset you, nor anyone else, for that explore all of Nature’s wondrous nich- matter. And, truly, my tales shouldn’t es—whether aerial, terrestrial, or aquat- upset you, not even remotely. For, after ic (for I can breath underwater, as well) all these years of struggle, I’ve found —without paying any heed to physical true happiness at last—and all thanks to laws. And, naturally, the animals on my my island. Yes indeed, here on my island are granted the same privileges—

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for why should they be slighted?” either setting at my leisure.” I must have rolled my eyes inadver- “Of course,” Rousseau continued tently, for Rousseau was quick to justify “I could go on and on about the many these last remarks of his. “Oh, yes, yes, wonders of my island . . . with its choice I admit,” grumbled Rousseau, “I have a of weather conditions, its infinite supply soft spot for animals. But, what can I of eatables, and what not. But, I must say? I’m just such a compassionate per- stop myself, for fear of overwhelming son, you know . . . And besides, these you. Just remember, Gulliver, that these flying pigs are marvelous conversation- chains that bind us are nonsense! alists. They rival the very best orators of Nothing but poppycock! And so I say, Europe ...” ‘let them be damned!’” “But, I’ve digressed,” he mumbled Eventually, Rousseau’s diatribe with a shrug of the shoulders. “Now, as petered out. Now, I’m no scholar —and I was saying, those god-awful fetters I certainly wasn’t blessed with the keen that once hindered me, that prevented insight that comes naturally to those vir- me from enjoying myself to the fullest, tuous Houyhnhnms—but I could detect are no longer an issue here. Just as grav- a slight edge to Rousseau’s supposedly ity has been removed, so too has the 24 “gentle” demeanor. No less surprising hour cycle of night and day established to me was his propensity to assume a by our earth’s heavenly rotation. As a defensive posture when “threatened.” result, I’ve managed to escape from the For instance, when I had rolled my eyes, tedious routine of sleeping and waking, I meant little by it. Yet, Rousseau sleeping and waking, that is so cruelly seemed wounded by my innocent use of imposed upon my fellow Europeans.” body language, and I felt a distance “And honestly, Gulliver,” said growing between us. Rousseau, “you must agree that such a Yet despite these character flaws, I regimented routine can make a man was strangely drawn to the man. He was weary, if not completely disillusioned. quite interesting, and I was eager to ‘Why even go to bed,’ I would often learn more. So, I asked him—with wonder, ‘when I’ll just have to rouse much enthusiasm—if he could perhaps myself yet again when morning comes? elaborate upon his views of societal Why subject myself to these chains, conventions. For as was clear from our these silly routines that seem to be (well, more accurately, his) short yet etched in stone? No, I’ll have none of enlightening talk, Rousseau was a lover it!’ I would proclaim with a fist in the air. of freedom. Yes, just like me, he want- Clearly, I was utterly sickened by the ed nothing but liberty—nothing but continual (and horridly pedantic) switch independence from others. And, rein- betwixt night and day. But, thankfully, vigorated by the opportunity to share my island provides darkness and light at his opinions with me (rather, to take the same time, enabling me to enter center stage), Rousseau didn’t require

112 Erika Connolly

much prodding . . . .” “Gulliver, my weary traveler, let me “Now just hold on a second!” I begin by disclosing an important truth interrupted. “I don’t understand ...I to you about our society: L’homme est thought you wanted complete freedom . né libre, mais partout il est dans les fers . . I thought you wanted no such chains chains. Sad though it may be, we must round your neck! But now . . . but now, face reality. For without doubt, we are you contradict yourself. You ask—no, oppressed by constraints of all sorts— you don’t even ask—you plead to be chains, so to speak, that shackle us. For banished, to be chained down. I just instance, because of our deep concern can’t grapple with the inconsistency of over what others think of us, our hearts your argument ...” have hardened. In fact, amour-propre Clearly, I was beginning to lose has taken over our psyche. Alas, we faith in Rousseau—or, at least, to ques- have nothing to show for ourselves but tion his logic. Nonetheless, I didn’t a frivolous and deceitful exterior” want to give up on him yet. And so, I (Rousseau Discourses 116). calmed myself—as best I could—and “I, myself,” said Rousseau with a asked him to explain. “Look Gulliver,” sigh, “was stifled by these dreadful con- he said, “you have me all wrong. You’re straints throughout my youth. Most just like the others. You see, while deny- notably, my education . . . merely ing me all those feelings, good or indif- increased my nervousness by making ferent, which they do not themselves me conscious of my shortcomings possess, they are always ready to attrib- (Rousseau Confessions 55). And, along ute others to me so wicked that they the same vein, I find conversation could not even enter into a man’s heart unbearable owing to the very fact that I (Confessions 595). And, quite on the am obliged to speak (Confessions 44). contrary, I’ve been endowed with the Yet, as you are aware Gulliver, my island most sincere nature, the most affection- is a place of repose—an Eden, of ate disposition, of any of my peers. As sorts—where no impediments can cross a result, I’m an easy target—vulnerable my path.” prey for all of those vulture-like men to Rousseau paused, perhaps over- feast upon. So, I’ve no other choice but come by a moment of deep self-reflec- to be always on the look-out. You must tion. “Ha!” he chuckled all of a sudden. understand Gulliver, that I’m obliged “Actually, the funny thing is, I often out of sheer necessity to resort to such wish that my fellow men would banish extremes—for instance, hoping to be me on this here island. ‘How gladly,’ I banished on my island—because I can- used to say to myself, ‘would I exchange not trust my fellow men. Thus, they may my liberty to leave this place for the at any time, and without warning force assurance that I could always remain me to return to Europe, merely in spite here’ (Confessions 596). Ah, the mere . . of me.”

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“Alright, alright, you’ve made your be told—as is always the case with me— point,” I conceded. “I understand your I was never a fan of the European edu- rationale; honestly, I do. Maybe, I’m cational system. You see, vices of all just too gullible—who knows? But, sorts come into being through educa- even so, I get the impression that you, tion—through what the elite take pride yourself, require some norms to func- in calling the ‘advancement of the tion, to ...how does one say ...to human mind.’ Luckily, in my case, I was compensate for life’s unpredictability. given complete freedom to map out my Yet, I won’t press the issue. Anyway, own destiny—in essence, to ‘follow my you mentioned education just a moment heart.’ My caretakers left me to my own ago. And, if my memory serves me cor- devices, and for this, I am most grateful. rectly, you weren’t overly pleased by the Truly, they never had to repress or to whole system. I’m most interested to indulge in me any of those wayward know why.” humours that are usually attributed to Having thus broken the tension, I Nature, but which are the product of opened my ears to Rousseau’s discourse. education alone” (Confessions 21). At first, he was hesitant to continue “Ahh, yes, you’re quite right,” I from where we had left off. However, thought aloud. “Yes indeed, the educa- as before, Rousseau was quite pleased to tional system is rather backward, to say be back in control, and so he began. the least. You know, what strikes me is “Well, Gulliver,” said he, “thanks to that, having gone to Emanuel College good old self-reflection, I’ve stumbled back in the day, I can’t recall a single upon one great maxim of morality, the instance when I was given the opportu- only one perhaps which is of practical nity to simply go about my business, as use: to avoid situations which place our fancy bid me. I was so weighed down duties in opposition to our interests, and by my schedule, so preoccupied with my show us where another man’s loss spells daily routine, that I never took much profit to us (Confessions 61-62). notice of the world around me. Alas, I Naturally, this maxim governs my con- never realized what I was missing. Ah, duct, and never have I strayed from it. but even so, those were the days—no In fact, I have strenuously avoided all cares, nor worries, nor aches and pains . situations which might set my interests . . oh, what I wouldn’t give to be young in opposition to some other man’s” again! But, here I go as usual, off on a (Confessions 62). tangent, reminiscing about my youth. “Now,” Rousseau exclaimed, “I Anyway, enough about me ...I would must stress the fact that my own self- prefer to hear more about you. Now tell reflection was responsible for my me, Rousseau, do you have children? growth—not the teachings of grammar And, if so, did you raise them according school instructors, not the senseless to your principles?” blabbering away of a tutor. The truth “Oh, yes, yes, yes,” stuttered

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Rousseau, in a rather hurried manner, had betrayed me—as if he had painted “Yes, yes, I had . . . I mean, I used to a false picture of himself, merely to gain have . . . I mean, I have children. Five of my admiration. them, in fact. But, alas, I lacked the nec- “What about your so-called ‘maxim essary means to care for them myself— of morality?’ What happened to, as you I just simply couldn’t be chained down. put it, ‘avoid[ing] situations which place So, my third child, therefore was taken our duties in opposition to our inter- to the Foundling Hospital like the oth- ests?’” I inquired. “You’re nothing but a ers, and the next two were disposed of fraud—a downright fraud. Just listen to in the same way (Confessions 333). yourself. First, you proudly claim to be However, after philosophizing on man’s a virtuous man, who would never even duties, I realized that my obligations as a think of compromising his duties in father had been met. You see, Gulliver, favor of mere personal interests. And never for a moment in his life could then, you give away your children, thus Jean-Jacques have been a man without compromising your duty as a father, feelings or compassion, an unnatural solely in order to preserve your life of father (Confessions 333). No, my deci- isolation—a mere personal interest, if sion to give away my children was prop- ever I heard one.” er, especially for a man of my circum- “And, by the same token,” I contin- stances. In fact, I was rather pleased by ued, “you speak of how children should my handling of the situation, and I was receive—and would undoubtedly pros- tempted to boast of it. For, in handing per from—a similar education to your my children over for the State to educate own: one that enables them to seek out ...I thought I was acting as a citizen their passions; one that encourages and a father, and looked upon myself as them to chase after their dreams. And a member of Plato’s Republic yet, you place your children’s education (Confessions 333). Indeed, I was smit- into the State’s hands, hence destining ten with delight, and I wondered what . each one to a lowly future as either a ..” peasant or a worker. No, no, this is just “Smitten with delight? ...You were disgraceful! I’m . . . I’m speechless ...” pleased? ...You were tempted to boast I didn’t know how to feel, nor what of it?” I interjected. My thoughts sput- further to say. On the other hand, tered out of me, but you must under- Rousseau had no problem filling in the stand—I was utterly flabbergasted. In void of silence, for he had yet to stop all honesty, emotions of all shapes and talking! You see, he must have been sizes ventured out of their hiding places, completely unaware of my interruption seeping into my veins, causing my blood —so absorbed was he with the topic of to boil. Everything from anger, to dis- education. In fact, he was still talking gust, to confusion entered my heart at about education when I finished my that very moment. I felt as if Rousseau speech. So, all told, all of that effort on

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my part—all of my sincere criticism— tradictory tales for some time, I began was fruitless. Rousseau hadn’t heard a to reflect upon my own duties as both a single word. father and a husband. “Oh, how dread- “ . . . So now, Gulliver,” Rousseau ful!” I realized. “I’ve been just as bad as carried on, “you must be either in awe Rousseau. I’ve not only neglected my of me, or close to it. Clearly, I’m an duties, but I’ve also neglected the most exceptional person, and I want my fel- important people in my life. Oh, I was low men to learn by my example. In a wrong all along! Those lousy word, I want to educate them about Houyhnhnms aren’t so great after all—I life—its ups, its downs, its in-betweens. mean, with all due respect, they don’t And, that’s precisely why I decided to even form attachments to one another, write an autobiography, which describes and what is life without attachments? even the most trivial details of my per- What is life without people with whom sonal experiences. Without my book— you can share both sorrows and joys? I regret to admit—mankind is all but In essence, what is life without friend- doomed. For, books written by your ship and love? Nothing! Life is nothing fellow-creatures, who are liars without these interpersonal bonds. (Rousseau Discourses 51), cannot be And, clearly, such bonds are not restric- trusted. Of course, I’m not a liar, and tions, by any means. Rather, they are lib- so my book clearly passes inspection . . erating, enabling every one of us to .” attain true happiness—a happiness that And so he continued . . . on and on would otherwise be out of our reach.” and on he went. I just let him talk, for I Now that I had cleared things up in was in no mood to argue with him. Of my mind, I knew what had to be done. course, I could have easily pointed out I looked up at Rousseau, who was still the many contradictions in his reasoning perched on his cloud. He was in the —for instance, his accusation that all process of complimenting himself, as authors are liars, except for himself. usual. On this particular occasion, how- Hmmm . . . rather suspicious, I would ever, his “exceptional imagination” was say. Or similarly, I could ask him how the focal point. “You may laugh at my such an “exceptional” man—a man modestly setting myself up as a prodi- whose experiences are unlike those of gy” (Rousseau Confessions 67), he said any other—could teach his fellow men with a grin on his face. “But, I’ve got to by writing a book of his personal expe- be forthright with you, it is impossible riences. Again, very suspicious. But, for men, and difficult for Nature herself, truly, what was the use? Rousseau was to surpass the riches of my imagination past the point of change. He was set in ...”(Confessions 155). I cleared my his ways, and there was no stopping him throat, thus cutting off Rousseau in the now. middle of his sentence. After listening to Rousseau’s con- “Look Rousseau!” I exclaimed

116 Erika Connolly

(making sure that, this time, he was all to ourselves to form bonds with those ears). “I don’t want to offend you, but close to us, and to search for the beauty I’ve got no other choice. I simply must in each of them. What I’m trying to say speak from my heart—for, as you would is, we must step off of our pedestals say, ‘I felt before I thought’ and rejoin our family and friends.” (Confessions 19). So, let me be blunt “Have you lost your marbles, young with you: You’re a troubled man. Now, lad?” replied Rousseau. “Truly, your I’ve no doubt that you possess remark- senseless chatter sickens me. And, with able talents that far exceed those of our all due respect, I’ve no need for such fellow Europeans. Yet, you have count- petty evaluations anyhow. Nor did I ask less problems as well—problems that for one. Besides, I know my own heart seem to be laying dormant, outside of (Confessions 17) and understand quite even your own awareness.” well my fellow man. On the contrary, as “For instance,” I declared, “you my experiences do not apply to others, appear to be plagued by inner contradic- you cannot possibly understand me, let tions. Perhaps, you aren’t willing—or alone yourself.” aren’t yet ready—to face reality. “Now,” Rousseau continued, Perhaps, you don’t want to acknowledge “although you crossed the line just a your very own humanity, for fear of los- moment ago, I’m willing to forgive and ing that uniqueness that so distinguishes forget. Yes, indeed, I’ll simply overlook you from others. But, whatever the your blunder—as is only proper for cause may be, you can’t just run away, in such a gentleman as myself. In fact, I’ll hopes of freeing yourself from any and even offer you some personal insight, all ‘chains.’ For, although you managed straight from the heart. Let’s see, where to escape from societal conventions, as should I begin? Hmm? Well, now that well as from the physical laws that gov- I think about it, there isn’t much to say. ern our earth, you haven’t succeeded in In all honesty, Gulliver, you’re nothing escaping from the invisible chains that I but a rascally man—a lost soul, if you would call character.” will. Now, then, if you don’t mind, I’d “Now, as you know,” I continued, like to be alone. I’ve plenty here to “every one of us must learn to live with occupy me—my imagination, my flying himself. And, if we aren’t capable of pigs, and ...well, that’s quite enough. owning up to our mistakes, than we are, So, Please, leave me be.” in essence, our own worst enemies. And so I left. Yes, courteous read- Likewise, if we aren’t able to appreciate ers, I headed out to sea, without once the uniqueness of others, than we are looking back. Yes, indeed, I was looking doomed to a lonely existence. For, all of forward to my long voyage home. our fellow men are unique in some way Granted, I knew what was in store for or another, and we should value their me—lonely days and lonely nights. Yet, uniqueness. In other words, we owe it despite these pitfalls, I was ready to bat-

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tle even the roughest of summer waves, so long as I could see my loving family again. And, oh, how I missed them! On June 25, 1725, around noon- BIBLIOGRAPHY time, my tattered but faithful ship Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. steered triumphantly into the good-old London: Penguin Group, 2001. port of England. Now, as I write to Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The you, five years have past since my Confessions. London: Penguin return. I’ve been spending my days in Group, 1953. retirement—watching my children Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social mature, taking long walks with my wife, Contract and Discourses. London: playing with the family dog, and so Everyman, 1993. forth. I must confess, I don’t miss the seafarer’s life one bit. In fact, I’ve taking a liking to solid ground, so much so that the mere sight of ocean water makes me quite ill. And, so, my courteous readers, I present to you my final traveler’s narrative. I can only hope that you’ve learned from my mistakes (and from those of our good friend Rousseau). I tell you, I’ve certainly learned a good thing or two. You see, after departing from the Rousseauvian Isles, I left behind not only Rousseau, but also my former self. I shed my skin, so to speak, to reveal a new and improved Gulliver—a Gulliver who cares about others, a Gulliver who likes companionship, a Gulliver who will never again break the bonds of love.

Signing off, Captain Gulliver

118 Matthew Kelsey

Modern Art M ATTHEW K ELSEY

I. Snails love woodwork. They wake early on sunny mornings, moving without disturbances. Ascending then descending (over dark trees to contrast their natural glue), two or three smear linear strings. Sunglow follows the direction of the snails, making strands of gleaming slime behind them.

II. Some people compare planes to birds or plastic action figures. But what bird leaves such a calculated residue behind? What hero can communicate to homes below through extended Morse code, wispy hyphens longer than cities? Planes quickly pass over, but leave delayed sonic captions as tumbled tunnel-script over blotchy summer blue.

III. Fresh ice cream. A child runs with creamsicle-stained fingers, the syrup wrapping around his thumb knuckle, the way his fingers wrap the leather-bound baseball. Just one more pitch. Then he can lick it off. Meanwhile, the sweet popsicle he had been eating melts over the cement, a collage of heat, orange extract, and dirt. The stream of juicy sugar slips into a sidewalk crack.

119 Camus: Carnets G EORGE K ALOGERIS

62 Serpentine grip of the Cross. Centrifugal Bach like tree rings, a grooved refrain come back to haunt us: timoignage as a torque turned up a notch too high for the scores of falling rain. After the last symphony of scattered souls, coiled programs litter the sidewalk. Megaphones for the wind. Or a triumphal chorus. Be a flame of joy at the crossroads. Camus at twenty. Then wisteria and magnolia. The trees foreign and far away. “Will you be back soon ...I know you have work to do.” Arthritic fingers knitting the dusk. Flick of a whisk broom as the gas lamps come on. At first blush the glow of ideas is still Parisian: young girls in Belle Epoque dresses.

120 George Kalogeris

66 The Facel-Vega picking up speed. Hairpin turns twenty kilometers or so outside of Sens, where the trees grow dense. Dappled pools by the curbing. Horsepower in tune with the constellation of the lyre. Then a ribbed nave of conifers. Or a shirt of fire. Champigny-sur-Yonne like the blur of being young. Suddenly in slow motion the shaggy chestnut reared its crown of unshakeable affirmation. Gide rustling toward you in slippers, stroking his tabby cat Sarah. Those darkest years you shared his flat. Then sudden impact. Focus on the sunlight like fur growing fuzzy. Your shattered torso turning centaur.

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122 Dygo Tosa

To learn to draw is a language D YGO T OSA

Because when I picked up a pencil long ago I could speak what I saw The grammar of lines is to follow a point

She spoke to me in photographs Captured memories take flight in development But her eyes caught me in her flash: cliché

I sketched back her smiles as contours She cast lighting, filling our space with colors And we lost each other in a breathing portfolio

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Goodbye, American Experiment in Democracy

S TEPHEN K ALBERG

don’t see the IMPORTANCE of the matter,” I said. “Yes, “ for some, best called thinkers and philosophers and social Icritics, I suppose it is. But for THE REST of us?” My friend Alex was livid. “Don’t you see this is THE theme that is tearing the country APART, you Dummkopf.”

Fortunately, I knew Alex well enough to know both his weakness for hyperbole and proclivity—without malice intended—for insult. “But most people are just trying to get through the day,” I responded. “This is tough enough—dealing with bosses, kids, spous- es, chores, the daily commute, and the Red Sox. No one has any ENERGY left to fret about YOUR ‘culture wars’. It’s not that people don’t care; they do, at some abstract level. But immediate matters monopolize their lives. Try to tell someone who’s pushed around every day by his boss that the real issue is whether minorities should cultivate their DISTINCT historical pasts.”

Alex could only groan and sigh. No doubt he was thinking of how practical and unimaginative his old friend had become. He tried another launching site. “The entire PUBLIC SPHERE has become

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a vacuum. Nothing’s THERE anymore—no civic values, no trust, no ideals, and surely no rules of politeness. Without this, we’re all goners within a few years. Goodbye, American experiment in democracy. And YOU think there’s SOMETHING more important than this? You head-in-the-sand gooey ducks, obsessed with ‘getting through the day’, are the REAL problem. And you proudly profess innocence. How disgusting.”

I stood accused, and Alex had stopped moaning and sighing. He stood up, ready to deliver his final blow before departing. Its mocking tone would not surprise me. How long would cher ami stay angry this time? Was he still endearing to me? My wife walked in at that very moment.

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Sestina E LIZABETH K EENAN

The burning sun has dulled its rays and turned an orange red. The once blue sky is fading to a purple black. Most birds have snuggled in their nests to sleep through night. All glows in the sun’s last stance before the moon and stars cool and calm all life. We struggle a few moments more, holding to life of day. We search for the last warming rays of the sun to cheer us. Soon, the moon will reign over all earth; she will rule the sky and smile on all below. For now, for the night, she is queen. All life flies like a startled bird. Through the crystal black air, the note of a songbird breaks the silence. The nightingale is proof that life is still here, even in the dark, unknown night. And what of the sun and his torturing rays? He is gone now; he does not own this blackened sky, now home to multitudes of stars and our moon. The watery light of the moon shines on our path. No guide bird is here to lead our way. Instead, soaring in the sky, our mother moon gives light to life while we wait for the sun’s dawning new rays. Sunshine will soon end this black night. Blue-purple seeps into the starry night sky. Soon our sovereign moon will fade into sun’s amber rays. The nightingale is silenced; now songs of morning birds break the silence. With the dawn, new life appears as rosy streaks race across the sky.

126 Elizabeth Keenan

The vast darkness is once again a radiant sky: No mark was left by invading night. All is beginning to awake; soon all earth’s life will stir. We are not now ruled by the silver moon, but by the golden sun. Flying—darting—courting birds dance and twinkle in the clouds, silhouetting the sun’s rays. Through the night hours, life stands still in the sky until the sun’s rays break the night and the moon stops lighting the wings of night birds.

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Rainy Saturday A VERY A NA L U B ELL

I am watching all this through a window. The rain smatters the glass and pools on the cement And the cold is seeping through the walls, But for this moment All I want is to be that puddle. I want to feel my filth being washed beneath me And turn my face to the sky And know that I am clean. I want to be the broken bottles and imploded litter Stewing in the sidewalk trash cans Groping to avoid the claustrophobia And who, even in their discarded state Are shown God’s tears and forgiveness And washed clean. I want to be the trees Slurping and drinking and dripping rain water. Without a rustle they soak the simple pleasures from their world And are rejuvenated. I can see among these things A room of students, And I watch them through their windows. Animals in glass cages Piled one atop the other atop another, Filling the room with their babble and their unfiltered thoughts, Crushing the cold clean oxygen from the room Until their culmination Steams and fogs the glass And I can see no more. I want to know how they can prefer their confinement And why I alone would be so content To throw myself into the rain between us. But then again I am watching this through a window.

128 Grecia Alvarez

To Okeechobee Canal G RECIA A LVAREZ

They cut into you again, To make way for rush-hour traffic. I should be saddened to see you Grow thinner each year, But you are still charming. I will always enjoy driving by That slab of concrete that dips Into you—a dimple on your dark face— Where the fat iguanas take their sun. And even when some careless motorist Spills gas on you and it swirls And clings in a rainbow Around the long legs of the ibis, Who only cares to pick at the mud, I can’t stop loving your nonchalance. You don’t worry because you know Where you are goin, where you begin, And where you end. Only the wild Orange tree, with its white blossoms, Weeps for you.

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N IZAR Q ABBANI

130 James Riggan

80. (from One Hundred Letters on Love) TRANSLATED FROM A RABIC BY J AMES R IGGAN

Your leaving is no tragedy As in our fantasy I am the willow tree Always dying Always on my withered feet.

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self B ETHANY P ICKARD i To the reader: ii I’m naturally lazy and disinclined to go hunting for authors to say for me what I know how to say without them. iii Cogito, Ergo Sum I am two fools, I know iv With poison, ear, and sickness dwell I am made of that self mettle To enter in these bonds, is to be free. v Da nun Jesus war zu Bethanien; I was tired and irritated, so light of wisdom, so laden of error. I cut and thrust and hacked and meddled more and quickly made that, which was nothing, all. vi Noli me tangere, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth since what I well intend I’ll do’t before I speak. I love, but love what I long not to love, what I would like to hate: Flesh (itself ’s death) and joys which flesh can taste. Wozu dienet dieser Unrat? hours, days, months, which are the rags of time. And I a something else thereby. vii “All that has to be done is to make the best use of imitation.” I made this mistake three or more times within a few hours with feigned visage, now sad, now merry and false. If good, whence comes its deadly, harsh effect? slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men I had only lengthened the journey and increased the difficulty of the ascent. Let me still take away the harms I fear and make me end, where I begun. ‘Twas much, that man was made like God before, But that God should be made like man, much more. Will he not let us alone Those are my best days, when I shake with fear.

132 Bethany Pickard

INDEX OF CITATIONS FOR “SELF” i Montaigne 23 ii Cervantes 13 iii Descartes Donne 81 (“The Triple Fool”) iv Donne 313 (Divine Mediation 10.10) Shakespeare I.i.72 Donne 125 (“To His Mistress Going to Bed”) v Bach 1.4c (“Now when Jesus was in Bethany”) Petrarch 13 Petrarch 49 Cervantes 20 Donne 89 (“A Valediction: of Weeping”) vi Petrarch 190.13 (“Do not touch me”) Shakespeare I.i.93-94 Shakespeare I.i.227-228 Petrarch 16 Donne 162 (Satire 3.40) Bach 1.4d (“To what purpose is this waste?”) Donne 80 (“The Sun Rising”) Donne 76 (“The Relic”) vii Cervantes 16 Petrarch 13 Petrarch 102.11 Shakespeare III.vii.50 Donne 313 (Divine Meditation 10.9) Petrarch 132.3 Petrarch 13 Shakespeare I.iv.335 Donne 85 (“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”) Donne 315 (Divine Meditation 15.13) Donne 315 (Divine Meditation 15.14) Donne 76 (“The Relic”) Donne 317 (Divine Poem 19.14)

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134 Sarah Chandonnet Don Quixote’s Quest for a Squire

S ARAH C HANDONNET

s it happened, after the for the man chosen by Fortune to have chivalrous knighting of our written in his destiny the accompani- hero, Don Quixote de la ment of such a great knight errant on all Mancha, the famous knight of his gracious adventures.” Aerrant turned his noble steed in the And so, Don Quixote spread the direction of his home village to attain word (in no way other than posted bul- the services of a squire. Overjoyed with letins, written in a way that only the his newly granted knighthood, he felt most worthy of men could understand) obligated to fulfill the requests of the of his desire to locate and appoint the king who had knighted him at the great perfect squire. castle only the night before. The day of the trials, three men “How does a knight errant choose appeared at the designated field area the perfect squire?” he wondered. where Don Quixote waited for them “According to my gracious and noble atop Rocinante. When watching the king, he must keep the necessities to three approach, Don Quixote saw revive me in the event of any heroic among them a merciless giant who had injuries attained when saving the weak undoubtedly come to prevent him from from their perilous encounters with evil. attaining a squire. When seeing this, he But I have not read in any of my books yelled for the other two to beware and of how the squire is introduced to his to move aside, and lowering his lance, fearless leader. He mustn’t be chosen at charged the giant. Just as he was about random. He must be tested, and he must to make contact, the giant picked up prove his faithfulness, his loyalty and his both him and his horse and placed them desire to be of aid to his benefactor. A next to himself. test, that is what I need, a competition “Bonjourno, Dottore. Perche voule

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mi uccidere?” began the giant. wizards. In order to be the squire of “What spell are you casting on me, Don Quixote de la Mancha, you must evil giant? Your spells are useless here!” be able to praise the beautiful Dulcinea replied Don Quixote. del Toboso when my strength has failed “Come vai? Je m’appelle Panurge.” or my words cannot come forth. You “I think he’s here for the island . . . may have to summon her to save your I mean for the test to be your squire, sir” knight and also to demand of the over- said the second man, who later revealed thrown enemies pure submission to, and himself as Sir Niccolo. utter respect for our lady,” began Don “We’re all here for that, sir Don Quixote. “Let each of you have a turn Quixote, and we are ready to do what- to praise her as the most lovely of the ever it takes to attain the eternal fame princesses ever to have lived on this that comes with being the squire of earth.” such a royal knight errant” said the sec- “The love of a woman,” retorted ond man, Sir Francesco. Sir Niccolo, “should do nothing for the “A giant as a squire?” thought Don strength of a man. She is submissive to Quixote. “Now I am certain that that is him, for she has not even an equal not possible. I have never read of a amount of the power he does, let alone thing like that. But, perhaps, like is she the one who governs it. The idea Bernardo del Carpio he could easily is ludicrous. Let a man be a man—con- smother other evil giants. I suppose I trol her as he does his Fortune; if he shall test him nonetheless, even though cannot have her by agreement, have her this is something I have never heard of, by force. Beat and strangle her until she let alone read about in my books of gives him what he wants. There is no proper chivalry.” obstacle man cannot win over, and a “Dearest sirs, let us begin with no woman is not even worthy of being further ado. The first test is one that any called an obstacle. She is no constraint squire must pass. Among you I will nor something that should be given time choose the most fit in this field. As you and thought. If you spent half as much know, every knight errant has a beau- time thinking about yourself, as you do teous princess to whom he dedicates his this woman, I do not doubt the fact that fearless acts of bravery. Her love and you would be king.” her splendor keep the knight alive and “A mon cherie ...woman is a great allow him to carry on his deliverances of tool. For sexual pleasure,” replied Sir righteousness with the utmost valor and Panurge, “this Dulcinea del Toboso is, strength. When he has suffered any in fact one of the raunchiest and dirtiest bodily pains, it is the thought of her that women around. Her sexual favors are revives him and returns to him the more than enough to please our Don potency he may have lost, like any magic Quixote. And if that’s what it takes to elixir made by the most powerful of keep him going, as it does all men, she

136 Sarah Chandonnet

really fits the bill. Actually, I remember yours are divine and must be sent to you this one time, behind the church ...” from the higher powers, to praise my “Gentlemen, the words you are say- Dulcinea with words that so befit her. ing cannot relate to the beautiful They speak the truth, and it appears that Duncinea, for they mean nothing to me. she has the same effect on you as she She is a goddess; she is Athena present- does on this noble heart of mine,” ing herself as a woman on Earth, and I replied an astonished Don Quixote. have not heard words of her beauty or And upon the noble scoreboard, her grace from either of you so far. You Don Quixote marked with a flourish the simply must not know this woman point attained by Sir Francesco, now whose elegance and refinement are dubbed Sir Francisco the Poet known throughout the world; she must Extraordinaire. After doing so, Don be praised, yet so far there has been Quixote again addressed them. nothing but blasphemy when regarding “The second test is of no lesser my muse, my lovely princess. I must value than the first, and one of you hear you sing her praises!” noble squires-in-waiting must indeed “To sing her praises is to give to her impress your knight errant in order to more than is her due,” began Sir cast aside the master of poetry as my Niccolo again. new squire. One of the most important “Oh, how I sigh for this Dulcinea,” jobs of the squire, aside from keeping interrupted Sir Francesco, who had company to the knight and carrying his remained pensively residing on the grass provisions, is to defend him if he is while the other three debated her. incapacitated by a magic spell that does not allow him to defend himself. Of “Oh blessed be that time above course, this would never happen to Don The heavens and the world began Quixote de la Mancha; but if it did, I To slow for me, my divine love imagine that the squire would act the One who will never understand way that Don Galor did when his broth- The part of my soul that she has taken er, the most famous Amadis of Gaul, Simply by casting her melting gaze was pinned to the ground by a magic Unknowingly or as an act from heaven spell that was camouflaged in the dead- Upon my humble soul in praise liest of fog. As a precaution, and thus Now yearns for her, how I sigh the second part of your test, each of For every act done in her notion you must combat these ghastly crea- Takes her only further from I tures, who although evil, have been Closer to Heaven, for acts of devotion tamed by a magic spell of my own.” Set the beloved above earth’s fire With a sweep of his noble arm, Making more distant my desire.” encased in rusty armor, Don Quixote showed the men their challenge. And, as “Oh, Sir Francesco, these words of it were, these tame giants were none

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anyone else, there are certain rules you have to follow.” “Like royal rules of combat?” asked the knight. “Something like that,” said Sir Niccolo, “only these work. If you’ll just listen to me, I can tell you everything you need to know about overpowering the enemy. First of all, you cannot other than tamed cattle, slothfully graz- simply attack at will. If you must attack, ing in the field. Without time for rebut- it must be calculated and planned. Herd tal, Don Quixote sounded the royal them together and make a single attack; gong, and sent the men to attack. While if you must physically attack them, do it Sir Francesco sheepishly tried to mow at once, not at many different times. down a single cow by timidly head Once they have realized your power, butting its side, Sir Panurge took a bit of you have won. Now, once you have a different approach. defeated the enemy, there are certain “No, no Sir Panurge, I do not wish things you have to do in order to stay in for you to eat the evil creatures, just to power.” destroy them in my protection! Oh dear, “But, I have never heard of any who has ever heard of a squire eating knight taking captives,” interrupted the enemy?” Don Quixote. With a mouthful of cow, Sir “How do you think they become so Panurge smiled back at the astonished powerful, of course they do, or else no knight errant. During all of this com- one would fear them.” motion, Sir Niccolo made his way back “I thought knights errant were to the hill where Don Quixote sat in loved by the people for defeating the amazement. evil and doing good deeds. They are “Who eats evil creatures?” said the supposed to be praised and honored all knight, shaking his head. throughout the world.” “Men who cannot properly defend “You are mistaken, knights can be themselves, that’s who,” began Sir loved, but firstly they must be feared, Niccolo. “Let me tell you a little bit and in this way, they can keep the ‘evil’ about battle, Don Quixote. If you wish enemies at bay. This is how they protect to overthrow these ‘evil’ creatures, or themselves ...I mean their people.

138 Sarah Chandonnet

What I was saying, is that in order to himself in the town square, and obvi- stay safe and in control, you must ously this is unheard of. So I need to destroy either the entire flock of the hear the manner in which each of you enemy, or some of them and then go would tell of Don Quixote and his live with them to secure your power.” grand adventures to the people and “Live with the enemy? I am quite ,most importantly, to the Lady Dulcinea sure the Knight of the Burning Sword del Toboso.” never lived with the rest of the giants.” “I cannot sing the praises of a man “And is he alive today? No. You who is not myself,” began Sir Niccolo, must listen to me, for I tell you, I am but remembering the idea of being speaking the truth, and you will have given the territory of islands to rule eternal glory as the greatest knight over, decided to make something up for errant to have ever lived.” the time being. “However, I can certain- “I suppose so, Sir Niccolo. And in ly force people to honor him. I would this case, I appoint you the winner of tell the people this: ‘Don Quixote is a this test. Simply, I cannot be protected knight errant who has destroyed armies merely by a set of very large jaws or a of enemies thus far and contains an man who knocked himself to the amount of power that would frighten ground trying to tip over the evil crea- the average man. If you do not wish to tures.” be the next of his victories, give up your And thus, the second point was power to him now. Abdicate now and given to Sir Niccolo, who now became save yourself and the lives of your fam- Sir Niccolo the Leader of the Giants. ilies from the wrath that is Don Seeing the sorry state of the men, Don Quixote.’” Quixote reluctantly continued the test- Don Quixote, terrified, began “Sir ing. Niccolo, you are telling the people that I “Now, since the last test has proven will kill them and their families when a bit strenuous for most of you, this that is not at all what a knight errant final test should be a bit easier. The last does. He destroys evil and protects the duty of the noble squire is to spread the people. Never have I read of a knight legacy of his knight errant among the who kills the good people in the town. people, and, most importantly, to report Now, humble Sir Francesco, the turn is to the beautiful Dulcinea of the heroic yours.” deeds he has done in her name. In this Unable to respond due to an exten- way, the squire will represent his fearless sive head wound dealt by the evil cattle leader and speak to the commoners to while he was attempting to push them spread the stories of his brave adven- over, Sir Francesco simply sat up from tures. For, clearly, the knight is too dig- the grass and fainted from the effort. nified to tell his own stories; that would The force of hitting the ground shook be like the Knight of Phoebus praising the tree above him and leaves and petals

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fell from the sky like rain from Heaven. me in the way you just have. Well done, And being the only one remaining, Sir Panurge the Honest. Now, however, Sir Panurge moved carefully to the cen- I need a few minutes to gather my ter of the field. thoughts and to declare who among you “Sir Panurge, there is no possible will have the honor of being my squire.” way I will be able to hear you from Looking at them, Don Quixote saw here,” began Don Quixote, but he one man passed out on the ground, stopped short when Sir Panurge’s giant another with his pants still around his sized breeches fell to his giant sized ankles, the last grimacing and talking to ankles. With the knight watching in himself quietly. Suddenly very worried, amazement, Sir Panurge began his he chose to address them as follows. speech. “Dear sirs, I thank you for coming Beginning with his thumb and fore- out here today to help me in my search finger of his right hand, he put the for a noble squire. However, I have ulti- remaining fingers down and held the mately chosen that I cannot have any of two to his forehead, while sticking out you, and for a simple reason. I am Don his tongue. Next, in a quick manner, he Quixote, I should be the one who is used both arms and crossed them over praised and honored. Never in any the place where his codpiece had rested, books of chivalry have I read of a squire and repeated the motion several times. so talented or articulate. I do not wish to He then returned both hands to his be overshadowed by a squire, and I feel head and with outspread fingers, he that no matter who I choose, I will be touched his thumbs to his temples and going against the tradition of knights proceeded to wiggle the rest. To con- errant. For, you Sir Francesco, though clude, he made fists with both hands asleep, you could very easily try to attain and brought his bent arms down to his the love of Dulcinea for yourself with sides repeatedly while thrusting his cod- your eloquent tongue and handsome piece forward. appearance. And you, Sir Niccolo, could Sir Niccolo, realizing that he was become too powerful and destroy me the only one who had actually respond- and my legacy. And, my dearest Sir ed to the test, watched Don Quixote as Panurge, you would simply make me he contemplated what exactly had just appear dumb to the people. Clearly, no happened. After a few minutes, Don knight errant has ever had a squire like Quixote replied. any of you, and I must insist on keeping “That was pure ...genius. There it this way. Thank you for your time gen- was not a single thing wrong with any- tlemen and be sure to tell stories of your thing you just said, Sir Panurge. It’s quite great encounter with the noble Don a gift you’ve got, being able to speak the Quixote de la Mancha.” truth so plainly and clearly. I would say, there is no other who could represent

140 Sassan Tabatabai

Adam to Eve in Old Age S ASSAN T ABATABAI

Dear Eve,

Many moons have passed since that first day we left the garden with our heads hung low and our shadows cast.

Remember how hot it was? how thirsty we were, how far we walked to find water and shade.

Remember that first night? how dark it was, how scared we were, how naked we felt in our leaves.

And that first winter? with its reluctant sun and thickening night, how we hugged to keep each other warm.

Many winters have passed and with each I’m getting slower, and smaller.

We’ve been through much, and I know it wasn’t easy for you. I still regret the way I treated you when he yelled at us for eating his fruit.

I knew you needed my sympathy and support but I called you stupid and you cried.

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142 Sassan Tabatabai

I wish I had held you instead and kissed your head and told you it would all be fine. I wish I could have stood up to him. I wish we had taken a whole basket of that fruit.

I remember the first time your belly swelled. I was nervous because you screamed and screamed and I thought I would lose you and be alone, but a child was born. And he drank from your breast and he clung to your skirt and we learned life.

I know it was hard when we lost Abel, and we lost Cain, and we learned death.

For the longest time you wouldn’t eat, or talk, or touch.

But we’ve had good times too.

Remember that first spring? the way it smelled, the way we felt, as if we’d never left that long-forgotten place.

Remember the time we drank from the vine we grew on the trellis in back? You laughed because my eyes turned red and my teeth turned blue.

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That was the night I discovered you, the night I smelled you and tasted you. I realized how you squint when I kiss you, and blush when I watch you.

That night I found your nape and the curves of your waist, and those two dimples low on your back.

And you showed me the things a woman can do.

It has ceased to be that way with me and you for a long time now—I know. But when I look at you, with your gray hair and wrinkled smile, I still see that wide-eyed girl trying to cover herself with leaves.

As we reach the autumn of our lives there is nothing I want more than to sit by your side and hold your hand and listen to your voice.

My beautiful Eve, my love, my life, I thank you for giving meaning to my mortality.

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