Making a Copy

[rbehr]

I just came across a note in another reading that stated that the Gutenberg Press was first operational about 1450.  It made me think about how copies of the Aeneid or Dante's Commedia were made.  There must have been a lot of scribes with a lot of time back then! 

It also makes me think a lot of instruction for students must have been oral. 

[Laurel]

She had been reading The Inferno and thinking of the exclamation "I did not know there would be so many people in it?" and connected that with her favorite NYC study place.

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Choisya wrote:

Thanks Laurel - great painting!  So is New York Hell or Purgatory?  I believe Virgil didn't get to Heaven with Dante. 

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Laurel wrote:
This painting by Isabel Bishop just came up on my daily Art Knowledge News e-mail newsletter. Here's another photo of it. And a note from the author.

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[Laurel]

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Choisya wrote:

Thanks a lot Laurel and the same to US Mothers!  I went over to my daughter's for tea and my other daughter came up.  They bought me a huge basket of fruit and some exotic flowers.  My sons telephoned.  

Mother's Day in the US (and Canada, I think) will be May 10 this year.

Which reminds me to tell you that it is my grand-daughter's 18th next Monday and we are all going to the West End to see the musical Wicked, which should be a fun evening.   

Hope it doesn't rain!

[Laurel]

Here's what some of those scribes did.

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rbehr wrote:

I just came across a note in another reading that stated that the Gutenberg Press was first operational about 1450.  It made me think about how copies of the Aeneid or Dante's Commedia were made.  There must have been a lot of scribes with a lot of time back then! 

It also makes me think a lot of instruction for students must have been oral. 

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[Laurel]

Someone hit our 10,000th message this morning.

And the winner is--

I think maybe either Choisya or Rae.

Congratulations! Step right into the Winner's Circle.

[Choisya]

Thanks Laurel but I'm not stepping into any Circle here until you tell me what company I might be keeping (Rae excepted)and the full horrors to which I might be exposed. 

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Laurel wrote:

Someone hit our 10,000th message this morning.

And the winner is--

I think maybe either Choisya or Rae.

Congratulations! Step right into the Winner's Circle.

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[Choisya]

Folks might be interested in this BBC Radio 4 discussion on the Inferno.

[Laurel]

Great! Thanks, Choisya.

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Choisya wrote:
Folks might be interested in this BBC Radio 4 discussion on the Inferno.

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[rbehr]

Since Choisya was on the BN boards before me, I'll gladly give the post to her along with the choioce of the circle (winner's to be included as an option).  

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Choisya wrote:

Thanks Laurel but I'm not stepping into any Circle here until you tell me what company I might be keeping (Rae excepted)and the full horrors to which I might be exposed. 

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Laurel wrote:

Someone hit our 10,000th message this morning.

And the winner is--

I think maybe either Choisya or Rae.

Congratulations! Step right into the Winner's Circle.

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[Laurel]

Exactly 400 years after his first celestial discovery, Florence is honoring one of her favorite sons with an exhibition called Galileo. Images of the Universe from Antiquity to the telescope. 

More here.

[rbehr]

Thanks for passing the link on.  It gave some different insights to the poem. 

I think Dante is more packed with symbolism than Paradise Lost!  It would be nice if he'd published a "cheat sheet" to go along with the original text.  Thanks goodness for the notes, links, and board comments.  

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Choisya wrote:
Folks might be interested in this BBC Radio 4 discussion on the Inferno.

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[Choisya]

Thanks Laurel.  With a bit of luck it will come to London and I might get to see it. 

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Laurel wrote:

Exactly 400 years after his first celestial discovery, Florence is honoring one of her favorite sons with an exhibition called Galileo. Images of the Universe from Antiquity to the telescope. 

More here.

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[Laurel]

Here's a very interesting article to introduce a new translation of Eugene Onegin and a new study of Pushkin.

[Laurel]

Celebration of the Finnish national epic.

[Choisya]

Ah that reminds me of Sibelius' Finlandia and the haunting Swan of Tuonela. Here is the Hymn from Finlandia with a slideshow of Finland.   

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Laurel wrote:
Celebration of the Finnish national epic.

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[Laurel]

Ah! Two of my earliest classical favorites. Now my head is going to be singing "Be Still My Soul" for the rest of the week. That swan is very similar to the Trumpeter Swans that winter here in large flocks every year. They're gone now, so I guess it's spring.

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Choisya wrote:

Ah that reminds me of Sibelius' Finlandia and the haunting Swan of Tuonela. Here is the Hymn from Finlandia with a slideshow of Finland.   

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Laurel wrote:
Celebration of the Finnish national epic.

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[Choisya]

Folks here may like to hear Witness : Five Plays from the Gospel of Luke 'imagining the story of Jesus through the eyes of those witnessed it' which is being broadcast each afternoon this week but which y'all can pick up by the Listen Again facility. 

Message Edited by Choisya on 03-31-2009 09:29 AM

[Laurel]

Thanks, Choisya!

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Choisya wrote:

Folks here may like to hear Witness : Five Plays from the Gospel of Luke 'imagining the story of Jesus through the eyes of those witnessed it' which is being broadcast each afternoon this week but which y'all can pick up by the Listen Again facility. 

Message Edited by Choisya on 03-31-2009 09:29 AM

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[Laurel]

I read fewer books this month:

David Copperfield 

I cry everytime I read it.

My plan is to read all 15 of Dickens's novels in 2009-2010, including the ones I have read previously.

Little Dorrit 

New to me, and wonderful.

Death Comes for the Archbishop 

Another wonderful new one.

Twenty-One Balloons 

This is a great little book about a group of people who live on an island that is rich in an immense treasure of diamonds. They build a magnificent little utopian community. Only trouble: the year is 1883 and the island is Krakatoa. A great read for anyone from 9 to 109.

Last Chronicle of Barset

Unfortunately, this is the end of a great series.

I plan to read them all again someday:

• The Warden (1855)
• Barchester Towers (1857)
• Doctor Thorne (1858)
• Framley Parsonage (1861)
• The Small House at Allington (1864)
• The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867)

The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare:

Henry IV, Part One 

Henry IV, Part Two 

Henry V

All magnificent, as usual.



From the Bible: mostly Luke, 1 and 2 Peter, Jude.

Spurgeon's Morning an Evening: March selections.

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February readings:

1. Oliver Twist Martin Jarvis's reading of this wonderful classic is marvelous. He gets every voice and emotional fluctuation right.

2. Washington Square What a change from Dickens! Dickens is warm and cheerful compared to the cruel, cool, calculating James.

3. The Courtship of Miles Standish  A great story beautifully told. Longfellow does a wonderful job of transporting the rhythm of Homer and Virgil to the New World. 

4. The Moon And Sixpence   Maugham's tale of an artist who ended his days in Tahiti.  The book is inspired by but not a biography of, Paul Gauguin. I have the Easton Press edition, which is illustrated with ink sketches by Fredrick Dorr Steele up to the time the artist shows his first painting and then by Gauguin's prints in color. A fascinating book!

5. The Great Divorce In this brief and beautiful allegory, Lewis takes us on a tour of heaven and hell, where we learn about our power to choose between self and salvation. Breathtaking! I remembered reading this long, long, ago and thought it would be a good companion to Dante. I was right.

6. The Confessions of St. Augustine I must confess, this book got a bit tedious for me at times, but there are some great gems that sparkle out and make it worth the work: his boyhood in Carthage as a reluctant scholar but lover of Dido; his youthful prayer, "Lord make me continent, but not yet"; his taking up the book to read and finding life and freedom at last. The section on memory is amazingly modern, and the section on time boggles the mind. This is a book I'm sure to read again.

7. The Prisoner of Zenda There's nothing like a brief escape to Ruritania to cure what ails one.Great fun!

8. The Abolition of Man An excellent extended essay on the dangers of the word 'only.' 

9. Othello 

This is a wonderful performance of the great play.
 

10. Richard II

"...let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings."
Gardens, plots, and sundry tales enrich this sad story of the unkinging of gentle Richard. Excellent performance!

11. Twelfth Night   Another great play by the Bard. I found this audio presentation a bit harder to follow than some of the others in the series, but it is a complicated play.

Also reading from the Bible: Mostly 2 Samuel, Mark, Galatians, Ephesians.

From Spurgeon's Morning and Evening: February selections.

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January readings:

1. Kipling, The Light That Failed First time for this. I really enjoyed the glimpse into the world of an artist who is going blind.
2. Maugham, The Painted Veil Another first read for me. This is a startling novel of redemption. In the introduction Maugham says the idea came to him while he was reading Dante. An important quotation in the novel is from Goldsmith's 'Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog': "The dog it was that died!" A new word that I learned: tiffin.
3. Austen, Sense and Sensibility  Not my favorite Austen, but for a first novel it is amazing.
4. Bronte, Wuthering Heights  Breathtaking. It gets better each time I read it.
5. Wodehouse, The Adventures Of Sally
6. Virgil, The Aeneid You know what I think about this.
7. Eliot, Silas Marner Another beautiful story of redemption.
8. Dumas fils, La Dame aux Camelias A first reading and a real disappointment. It makes for wonderful opera, though (Verdi's La Traviata).
9. Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra
10. Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale
11. Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well It's amazing what Shakespeare can do with such a silly story.
12. Johnson, God's Trombones These wonderful poems have been favorites of mine for many years.

I have The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare  and plan to listen to all 38 plays this year.

I also read from the Bible each day (mostly from 1 Samuel and Matthew this month) and am reading through Spurgeon's Morning and Evening  

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Message Edited by Laurel on 03-31-2009 09:36 PM

Message Edited by Laurel on 03-31-2009 09:41 PM

Message Edited by Laurel on 03-31-2009 09:50 PM

Message Edited by Laurel on 03-31-2009 09:50 PM

[Laurel]

Now here's a challenge.