"To compensate a little for the treachery and weakness of my memory, so extreme that it has happened to me more than once to pick up again, as recent and unknown to me, books which I had read carefully a few years before . . . I have adopted the habit for some time now of adding at the end of each book . . . the time I finished reading it and the judgment I have derived of it as a whole, so that this may represent to me at least the sense and general idea I had conceived of the author in reading it." (Montaigne, Book II, Essay 10 (publ. 1580))

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Unknown Soldiers (Neil Hanson, 2005)

[Re-read for book club per my own selection, 2015.  Below is from original read in 2010.]

Another WWI book; these are increasingly compelling as I get a bit more familiar with the subject matter.

I found this particular book particularly powerful, particularly poignant. There's something about the (British) author's style. Systematic; detailed; matter-of-fact; he totally "gets it" that the subject matter is so intrinsically powerful that no hyperbole is required.

In many ways he is taking Remarque's approach in "All Quiet on the Western Front", but with a different story angle. With the same underlying, unspoken message that beyond all the rationalizations and pious memorials - and who can blame anyone for trying to make sense of this in the immediate aftermath - so much of this slaughter was nonsense.

He starts with the stories of three characters. Paul Hub's story is the most interesting - this poor German enlisted in the first days of the war; refused to marry his fiancee because he didn't want to leave a war widow behind; survived all the major hell-holes - amazing in itself (Verdun, the Somme, Ypres, Passchendaele); lost his only two brothers in combat in the first months of the war; relented after four years and was married while on a short leave; was killed when the Allies counterattacked against Germany's "Operation Michael" in spring/summer 1918; and all the while sent a steady stream of loving, personal, informative letters to his parents and fiance. His body was never found. She never remarried.

Second character was Alec Reader - British. Third was an American aviator - but he didn't have any letters to quote and was in the war only a few months, I think he was included here because his mother was involved in the founding of the Gold Star Mothers.

The author quotes extensively from Hub's letters in particular; also Reader's letters; works these into factual descriptions and excerpts from other letter-writers in a manner that really works.

Lots of matter-of-fact descriptions of trench life, shells.

The volume of shelling was just unbelievable. Supposedly 14 million shells at Verdun alone

Difficulties on the German home front - the British blockade made life extremely difficult. This is illuminated in the letters Hub received from home hoping he could track down basics like shoes, string, etc.

While the German army itself was weak with low supplies. When they swept over Allied trenches in Operation Michael - the good news was that they finally had chocolate, food, tobacco; the bad news was they realized their leaders had been constantly lying to them about how the Allies were starving (when the opposite was true). Germans were quickly pushed back.

The author then turned to the idea of remembering the war dead and covered this in detail - remembrances previously had not been done except for senior officer types. There was definitely a political calculus involved. No British bodies had been brought home - too dangerous to morale for stacks of coffins to show up. Literally millions of bodies unidentifiable.

The stories of the remembrances were far more compelling than expected - the Cenotaph in London; the tomb for the unknown warrior in Westminster. The planning - special seating for mothers who lost husband and all sons; mothers who lost all sons; and down the line. The unexpected outpouring of emotion; endless piles of wreaths (dwarfing the piles for the people's princess, it seems)

Hard to imagine the effect on those left behind in the countries with the biggest losses. America was at a definite distance.

And just look at the guys in the bottom photo . . .

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Candide (reprised)

I was quite taken with Voltaire's Candide, especially the closing line about "we must cultivate our garden." Maybe it was a good idea to wait until age 54 to read it; that approach looks better and better over time.

In any event, I was vaguely aware that a musical of some kind had been written based on Candide. Today I was listening to a CD (or MP3 collection) from the San Francisco Symphony Choir and heard a song I've heard many times (particularly liking Dawn Upshaw's version) . . . finally made the connection . . . it' s "Make Our Garden Grow".

Leonard Bernstein wrote this. It's beautiful. Sounds like the operetta was a failure at the outset, but was revised and has gained a great deal of popularity.

Lyrics below, along with video version of the last performance Bernstein conducted (London symphony orchestra). I'm convinced Voltaire wouldn't have approved this song (except perhaps for the cow dying (per lyrics below, but not part of this musical presentation - instead we have Pangloss at the end)). But I like it.



CANDIDE
You've been a fool
And so have I,
But come and be my wife.
And let us try,
Before we die,
To make some sense of life.
We're neither pure, nor wise, nor good
We'll do the best we know.
We'll build our house and chop our wood
And make our garden grow...
And make our garden grow.

CUNEGONDE
I thought the world
Was sugar cake
For so our master said.
But, now I'll teach
My hands to bake
Our loaf of daily bread.

CANDIDE AND CUNEGONDE
We're neither pure, nor wise, nor good
We'll do the best we know.
We'll build our house and chop our wood
And make our garden grow...
And make our garden grow.

(ensemble enters in gardening gear and a cow walks on)

CANDIDE, CUNEGONDE, MAXIMILLIAN, PAQUETTE, OLD LADY, DR. PANGLOSS
Let dreamers dream
What worlds they please
Those Edens can't be found.
The sweetest flowers,
The fairest trees
Are grown in solid ground.

ENSEMBLE (a cappella)
We're neither pure, nor wise, nor good
We'll do the best we know.
We'll build our house and chop our wood
And make our garden grow.
And make our garden grow!

(The cow dies)

VOLTAIRE
Ah, me! The pox!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Napoleon - The Path to Power (Philip Dwyer, 2007)

I've never known much about Napoleon's early years - was vaguely aware that he wasn't French per se; knew of the expedition to Egypt etc. But mostly had just read that he showed up in Paris as an artillery expert and helped put down some sort of insurrection in the years following the start of the revolution, after which his career took off.

So this book was very interesting - looked in-depth at Napoleon right up to the time of the 1799 coup. Starting with his days in Corsica - he was very focused on events there and learned a ton about politics. (Corsica was being passed between Genoa and France, and considering (or pipe-dreaming about) independence.) Idolized "Paoli," the local leader.

Earlier, he had been lined up for schooling in France thanks to his father's intervention. So he had something of a dual background - initially strongly Corsican, but with enough French background to handle the transition.

The French Revolution, and Napoleon himself, were responsible for so many modern innovations (many quite terrible). First mass conscription. Adroit manipulation of newspapers to sell false imagery. Pillaging of art works from Italy in a manner that would have impressed the Nazis. Creation of puppet states to serve as allies or buffers, or both.

Napoleon definitely had something remarkable in his military leadership - after gaining popularity and credibility with the politicians, he had great success in charge of the Army of Italy.

Infatuated with Josephine (who apparently had plenty of charms that outweighed her bad teeth). Pulled a David and Bethsheba scene when taking up with a soldier's wife in Egypt - sent the poor fellow on a mission where he was almost certain to be captured. British spies knew what was up so, to the surprise and consternation of all the principals, they released him back to Egypt.

Awful scenes in Egypt as Napoleon demonstrated an insensitivity to loss of human life that would be repeated. It was a bad campaign, but skillful propaganda left him pretty much untouched if not aggrandized - notwithstanding his abandoning his army there.

This should be good background reading for The Charterhouse of Parma. A good follow-on to this book.

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Inception

We had heard lots of good things about the movie "Inception" from various sources, so Patricia and I went to see it this afternoon (with Paul Jr. and Pat Herrera). Leonardo DiCaprio is the lead - he is expert at utilizing technology to invade dreams - seems the technology is used regularly as a corporate espionage tool. But now he is hired by a corporation to implant an idea in the mind of the principal of a competing firm, which we're told is much more difficult to accomplish.

Longish but engaging; I was a little concerned during the first hour but ended up liking the movie. Definitely in the summer blockbuster field with lots of action, chases, shooting, etc. But much more thoughtful. Four layers of dreams are depicted simultaneously toward the climax. I still can't figure out a number of things, especially the way the opening scenes fit with the rest of the movie.

He had a complicated relationship, let's say, with his dead wife. (I read that there is Edith Piaf music on the soundtrack.)

The special effects were really well done, especially the scenes where they were floating in the hallway (a couple dream layers down). And this is the kind of movie - depicting dream worlds - where the effects actually add something to the storyline.