tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post8719232781552355021..comments2024-02-26T00:59:26.907-08:00Comments on Ana the Imp: Another AnnaAnastasia F-Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-44435403611665377242011-11-01T16:59:21.176-07:002011-11-01T16:59:21.176-07:00Chris, I'd love to know what you had to say ab...Chris, I'd love to know what you had to say about Schopenhauer! <br /><br />You are quite right: my mind is more heavily focused on politics and contemporary history just at the present, particularly with regard to the EU. However I still have an eye on higher things and more eternal truths. I'm off to Egypt at the end of next week, so I've been ploughing through a lot of ancient history and mythology, along with some more recent literature, from Manning and Durrell to MahfouzAnastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-50569407809995258162011-10-31T02:40:55.048-07:002011-10-31T02:40:55.048-07:00That was an excellent line about the rock and the ...That was an excellent line about the rock and the limpet, thank you Ana . . . <br /><br />I will await the moment when you have had the time to look into the Auerbach book on Dante, either directly or via the review, before I continue further to sketch out the mystical vision of the relationship between consciousness and external reality . . .<br /><br />Your reference to Die Welt etc. motivated me to take down my old Dover edition of Volume One, and I amused myself by re-reading some of my jejune underlinings and comments, but I won't bore you with them. The CUP has released a new translation which I've just ordered, and will report back on it in a month or so . . . I was looking for that great line about the world as a scum-covered orb but I think that must be the beginning of Volume II . . . so many of the books we've discussed happen to be at the farm rather than among my books here in town, for some reason<br /><br />But I can see that your mind is far from Schopenhauer and Eastern ideas, and that instead you are focused these days on very contemporary and pragmatic issues--I quite enjoyed the fierce verve of your piece on Merkel . . . she's not worthy of your steel, of course . . . <br /><br />In any case, unlike Andrew Marvell's more urgent project there is both world enough and time to await the proper moment to discuss mysticism . . .Chris Coffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16599801901347194290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-35042430976848702152011-10-23T16:16:31.380-07:002011-10-23T16:16:31.380-07:00Chris, Nabakov, no; Poe, yes. There is nothing su...Chris, Nabakov, no; Poe, yes. There is nothing superficial about you and you must not be reluctant to reveal yourself, or your philosophical interests, in any way. I do have an interest in Eastern mysticism, partially drawn from a reading of Schopenhauer’s <i>Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung.</i> <br /><br />Thank you for the link to the Dante review (also for the explanation about your wine company logo!)Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-37973759583392382822011-10-21T03:04:20.387-07:002011-10-21T03:04:20.387-07:00The reason you've made me feel superficial, ev...The reason you've made me feel superficial, even trivial, in my response to PARADISE LOST is because your favourite lines are the most economical and precise summary possible of Eastern wisdom that I can think of, outside the mystical tradition, in major English literature, certainly that early. Obviously it resonates with Lovelace's "Stone walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cage, etc." but in its completeness and brevity it achieves the perfection of the truth of sunyata: "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form." I wasn't a careful enough reader at your age to notice this, or to respond as you have responded.<br /><br />Having lived many decades now since studying PARADISE LOST, I could not agree with you more, and I'm deeply impressed that you have already located this unconscious cultural synchronicity with the Dharma and the Dao in Milton's Lucifer.<br /><br />Based on what I've read of your blogs and reviews, I am very aware of the possibility that, despite the fact that Lucifer is your hero and you admire these lines, my claim that they connect with Eastern wisdom may be producing in you a dawning assumption that I may be, after all, an unreliable mystical nut. So I won't say much more unless you indicate that this is of any interest, except to say that the basic concept that Lucifer espouses, as it blossoms fully in the context of its native Eastern tradition, is that what we perceive as external reality is simply our own inner being which mirrored in our consciousness, and that the world of our inner being is reified in the world around us and mirrored back to us. Again, I imagine your brows furrowing as words like "solipsist" cross your highly cultivated, acutely critical (and not particularly forgiving?) mind, and I'm also painfully conscious that this is a "Comment" not a "Post". So to attempt to forge a link between your favourite lines by Lucifer and your very evident love for literature--while economising on humble "Comment" space--I'll simply post this link to a review of a wonderful book on Dante by Erich Auerbach, where Auerbach masterfully explains the matter using a Western source, one of my favourites, Heraclitus: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2SFJAPK9J9EO8/ref=cm_cr_dp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1590172191&nodeID=283155&tag=&linkCode=<br /><br />I'll sign off now, with best wishes, by observing that the logo of our wine company is the Miltonian symbol of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge, with the Road to Eden running between them . . .Chris Coffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16599801901347194290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-27047710316233684532011-10-21T02:43:11.339-07:002011-10-21T02:43:11.339-07:00Thank you Ana--the cyber tide has now brought in t...Thank you Ana--the cyber tide has now brought in two waves of Anagrams.<br /><br />I'll respond in reverse order: Yes, I've read all of Gogol's short stories, which I admire, and I adore DEAD SOULS, although I must say that I haven't read it since 1983. Have you read Nabokov's lecture on Gogol? Many writers and their works rise maimed beyond recognition from the Procrustean bed of a Nabokov lecture, but Nabokov had a deep affinity for and understanding of Gogol and it's well worth reading. It may be in that lecture that he discourses on the "chort" which I seem to recall is a small Russian devil, not unlike an imp, perhaps. Gogol, like Akhmatova, teetered on the knife edge of the daimonic and the angelic, and unfortunately his lurch towards the angelic destroyed him as an artist, while the same intention and energy powered Akhmatova to artistic transcendence (for example, Akhmatova disapproved of the conduct of Glebova in the affair of her admirer's suicide and this position is part of the inner moral poise and greatness of "Poem without a Hero"). Speaking of chorts and imps, I suppose you've read Poe's "The Imp of the Perverse" . . . I've stood reverently at his grave in Baltimore, the city in whose gutter he died with a few cents in his pocket. The gravestone was paid for with money raised by French school children.<br /><br />I admire your taste in heroes, and even more, I am again taken aback and admiring of your precocious insight, and / or your superior education--but since you richly deserve your education and actively participated in it, ultimately the two factors are inextricable. My 17th century English lit prof was a Milton specialist, so I too spent a great deal of time on PARADISE LOST. But I feel positively superficial in your company, as I was personally electrified by the following passage, a few hundred lines down from your favourite lines:<br /><br />Darkened so, yet shone<br />Above them all the archangel: but his face<br />Deep scars of thunder had intrenched, and care<br />Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows<br />Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride<br />Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast<br />Signs of remorse and passion to behold<br />The fellows of his crime, the followers rather<br />(Far other once beheld in bliss) condemned<br />For ever now to have their lot in pain,<br />Millions of spirits for his fault amerced<br />Of Heaven, and from eternal splendors flung<br />For his revolt, yet faithful how they stood,<br />Their glory withered. As when Heaven’s fire<br />Hath scathed the forest oaks, or mountain pines,<br />With singed top their stately growth though bare<br />Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepared<br />To speak; whereat their doubled ranks they bend<br />From wing to wing, and half enclose him round<br />With all his peers: attention held them mute.<br />Thrice he assayed, and thrice in spite of scorn,<br />Tears such as angels weep, burst forth: at last<br />Words interwove with sighs found out their way.<br />Oh Myriads of immortal spirits, Oh powers<br />Matchless, but with the Almighty, and that strife<br />Was not inglorious, though the event was dire,<br />As this place testifies, and this dire change<br />Hateful to utter: but what power of mind<br />Foreseeing or presaging, from the depth<br />Of knowledge past or present, could have feared,<br />How such united force of gods, how such<br />As stood like these, could ever know repulse?<br />For who can yet believe, though after loss,<br />That all these puissant Legions, whose exile<br />Hath emptied Heaven, shall fail to re-ascend<br />Self-raised, and repossess their native seat?<br /><br />Here is my confession, never having taken seriously the lines you love, I always thought the Romantics were simply being provocative by saying that Milton secretly identified with Satan / Lucifer, and just put it down to the fact that he does have the best lines.<br /><br />(I don't know how many words are allowed in the Comment section, so rather than go through the bother of losing what I've written, I'll just Post this much now, and then continue in a second Comment . . . Hasta pronto--ChrisChris Coffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16599801901347194290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-39322402554958479842011-10-19T15:37:19.283-07:002011-10-19T15:37:19.283-07:00Chris, I've added your email to the comments n...Chris, I've added your email to the comments notification box, so hopefully that will work. I'm so glad you've joined my tribe, but you will never vanish into the crowd. <br /><br />One of my heroes, incidentally, is Lucifer from Milton's <i>Paradise Lost</i>. Ah, yes - The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. :-)<br /><br />PS, do you know Gogol's Ukrainian stories, of hauntings, demons and devils? I really love those.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-83034556054345278982011-10-19T03:29:28.671-07:002011-10-19T03:29:28.671-07:00Hi Ana--of course--it's chris@edenroadwines.co...Hi Ana--of course--it's chris@edenroadwines.com.au<br /><br />I've looked around and I can see that I can "join" your blog along with 300 others, so despite my dislike of crowds I'll do that too, which may accomplish the goal of being alerted to your posts and comments . . . hopefully<br /><br />I'll also Friend you on Goodreads, where I initially came across your review of THE KAISER'S HOLOCAUST . . . so that should take care of being alerted to your posts, comments and reviews<br /><br />You put yourself right in the middle of the daimonic tradition of Russian literature from Pushkin and Lermontov to Blok and Nabokov . . . unless, that is, you're evolving from being a devil towards becoming a child in order to inherit the kingdom of GOD--having read a dozen of your posts I'm sure you're capable of successfully surmounting any challenge in heaven or on earth . . . ;)Chris Coffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16599801901347194290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-13847769667241843142011-10-18T16:05:43.068-07:002011-10-18T16:05:43.068-07:00Chris, half devil, half child; that's me. :-)
...Chris, half devil, half child; that's me. :-)<br /><br />I'm hopeless when in comes to the technical side of things but I think I may be able to add your email - if you want to give it - ,which I think will keep you updated when new comments are posted.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-76396987864491628262011-10-18T05:15:56.552-07:002011-10-18T05:15:56.552-07:00So I add integrity to the taste, good judgment and...So I add integrity to the taste, good judgment and poise displayed in your Akhmatova post.<br /><br />I mentioned in my comment on your Dawkins post that I accidentally wandered into your September 2009 posts, where I stumbled across the Incubus Sukkubus [sic?] post and videos. There was something unsettling and strangely stirring, I must admit, about the second song, particularly, and its lyrics, but I was also struck by the similarity between the dark Weltanshauung of the song and the 1913 incident in which the young officer Vsevolod Kniazev killed himself because he had lost the competition for the affections of Akhmatova's best friend Olga Glebova to Alexandr Blok. I suspect there's plenty of material in the elective affinity within you, conscious or not, of these two cultural phenomena to amply supply the content for a blog post and probably a novel . . . but there's also the angelic and pellucidly insightful Ana, who I would fervently hope gets properly expressed / dramatised in any blog post / novel that addresses such dark material . . .<br /><br />Point of procedure: now that I'm venturing into your past posts the only way I can tell if and when you've replied is to return every couple of days to the post itself, and it's getting a bit complicated. Is there a way I can be notified when you make a comment? Any advice greatly appreciated . . . ChrisChris Coffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16599801901347194290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-34519088504816295292011-10-17T15:20:28.955-07:002011-10-17T15:20:28.955-07:00Alas, Chris, no; my Russian is far too elementary....Alas, Chris, no; my Russian is far too elementary. But thank you for your very kind words.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-23685722902455310112011-10-17T02:57:07.979-07:002011-10-17T02:57:07.979-07:00So Ana, at first I applauded you for your taste an...So Ana, at first I applauded you for your taste and good judgment, for, to be specific, your classical and self-confident decision to let Anna Akhmatova simply speak, or declaim, for herself in your post, rather than trying to compete with your own thoughts. How well done, how well-judged, I thought to myself. How poised.<br /><br />But as I read, I had the sense of you and Anna intertwined, of Ana communing with Anna, I became convinced that I was reading an Anna infused with Ana and could feel you silently translating Anna and offering her to me.<br /><br />So, just to be clear, is this your translation? It has many merits and some very beautiful moments. Before I return to give it the close reading it deserves, and perhaps also offer a comment (which wil be decorously brief), I wanted to confirm that my intuition is correct and that this very spiritual and beautiful translation of Akhmatova is in fact yours . . . ChrisChris Coffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16599801901347194290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-59170622048874358042009-12-10T15:51:33.555-08:002009-12-10T15:51:33.555-08:00Yes is incredible, Rehan.
Да, я, очень. Спасибо, ...Yes is incredible, Rehan.<br /><br />Да, я, очень. Спасибо, Lana. :-)Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-62559551101309237082009-12-10T08:05:57.863-08:002009-12-10T08:05:57.863-08:00Я люблю поэзию Анны Ахматовой) и на её родном язык...Я люблю поэзию Анны Ахматовой) и на её родном языке они звучат особенно красиво...<br />Приятно, что та Ana интересуешься русской поэзией и историей =)<br />Желаю удачи!Lanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02063686515416930469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-60906065054051401802009-12-09T21:07:46.550-08:002009-12-09T21:07:46.550-08:00A great and wonderful poet that I need to read mor...A great and wonderful poet that I need to read more of!Rehan Qayoomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02391797858691917631noreply@blogger.com