Getting Dramatic

 

At the beginning of each year I set reading goals. Among the goals for this year is to read a couple of plays. 

Being in the mood for some theatrical works, I stopped by the library and picked up a couple of plays I'd wanted to read because of their reputations as "plays one should read".

The first play was The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. I had just read his The Picture of Dorian Gray, so it was a natural choice.

The play was light, amusing, and witty. I enjoyed it in part because I dd not have high expectations of it being something profound.

Then I read Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill. I knew it would be a much more serious play. Indeed, it was. I found it dark and sad. 

After finishing it I thought I needed something a bit lighter and brighter.

Chesterton.

I dug out my copy of Volume XI of the Collected Works, the volume that contains Chesterton's plays and writings about George Bernard Shaw.

I had already read Magic, The Judgement of Dr. Johnson, and The Surprise. I looked at the other play titles, and one jumped out: The Turkey and the Turk. It drew my attention in part because of the current war with Iraq.

I quickly discovered it was a short play, and his version of a mummer's play. Being a professional Santa, I found the inclusion of Father Christmas as a character appealing.

Okay, it's not a "serious" work - certainly not in the sense of O'Neill's drama. But he does deal with some more serious issues. Yes, there is the conflict between Christians, represented by St George and Father Christmas, and militant Muslims, represented by the Turk. But there seemed to be some mutual respect between these antagonists. The Germanic Doctor with his penchant for replacing body parts with mechanical devices seems to be the real point of mockery and satire. Hey, maybe he's the "turkey".

I found the Doctor a prophetic character: I see the same impulse active today as science and the culture seek to replace the real and the natural with the artificial and mechanical. IVF, pills to enhance male "performance" in older men. AI. and more. 

Ah, Chesterton the prophet!

One Nuke To Rule Them?

 

Many reviews said that the Ring in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was suggested by the atom bomb. What could be more plausible? Here is a book published when everyone was preoccupied by that sinister invention; here in the centre of the book is a weapon which it seems madness to throw away yet fatal to use. Yet in fact, the chronology of the book’s composition makes the theory impossible.

C.S. Lewis (‘Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism’)

A Father Gabriel Mystery

 

Whenever one reads a mystery with a priest sleuth, it's natural to think of Chesterton's Father Brown. Of course, not all such sleuths measure up to Father Brown and the moral and ethical framework Chesterton created.  

Father Gabriel does measure up. Fiorella De Maria has created a priest detective who investigates and solves crimes but is concerned even more with his fellow characters and their salvation. 

Missing, Presumed Lost is the fifth book (and the fifth one I've read) in the six-book series. I'm assuming - hoping - she will write more.  

The plot involves finding the buried skeletal remains of a young girl who disappeared 30 years before. Was it murder? Who buried her? Who knew what happened? 

Father Gabriel, whose Benedictine monastery is located in the village where the girl had lived and where her remains were found, is drawn into the mystery. At the same time, the death of a child haunts him because, before he became a priest, he was married, but then his wife and daughter were murdered, a case that was never solved.

De Fiorella has written a number of books besides the Father Gabriel mysteries. She is a skilled writer, and this book is another fine example of her work.

I think Chesterton would have approved. 

A definite thumbs up! 

Late, But I Have a Good Reason!

 

I try to post every Thursday - my assigned day. But my old computer - 16 years old - died.

My new computer arrived yesterday afternoon, but I'm still trying to restore my old sites. And I have to take the old one and this one in to have all my documents and photos transferred to the new one.

So ... I will write, but it might not be for a couple of days.

"Around every corner is another gift waiting to surprise us, and it will surprise us if we can achieve control over our natural tendencies to make comparisons [to things that are better rather than things that are worse], to take things for granted [rather than imagining how much worse things would be if they weren't there and so feeling grateful], and to feel entitled!" - G. K. Chesterton

Zimmy Clerihew

Robert Zimmerman
adopted a persona as part of his musical career plan.
Given his singing voice
he might have thought it was his only choice.

I just saw part of the Bob Dylan bio movie, No Direction Home, and felt inspired.

Bruce Wayne Clerihew

 

Back in 2021 I submitted a number of clerihews to Gilbert. One of them finally showed up in the current issue! Patience is a virtue.

Bruce Wayne
will calmly eat soy, beans, and grain,
but serve him a veggie hamburger patty,
and he'll suddenly go batty.

I wonder if some of these other unpublished one I submitted then will make it into print some day? Here are three of them:

Dr. Bruce Banner
stopped to iron out some issues at Stark manor.
But when Pepper came on the scene,
he suddenly turned green.

With Adrian Monk

every case is a slam dunk.
He does, however, grow visibly grim

if after each one they don't disinfect the rim.  

Lord Peter Wimsey

was never deterred by evidence flimsy,

but his confidence suffered years of strain

when faced with the mystery of Harriet Vane.

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil

 

Tom Bombadil was one of my favorite characters in The Lord of the Rings. I was sorry when he got left out of the movies, though I understand why they chose to do so given the length of the movies.

So I was happy when I stumbled across The Adventures of Tom Bombadil by J. R. R. Tolkien. The book was originally published in 1962. The edition I have, however, is the one edited later by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond.

The book is a collection of poems by Tolkien, only two of which are directly about Tom, and one of which seems to be about him. Tolkien had written the two poems before he wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Many of the other poems date before those works as well. Some were even included in those works. 

As is typical of Tolkien, for the book he revised the poems. Part of his tinkering was to make them fit in better with the world of the Middle Earth.

The way the edition I have is laid out is the first part of the book is the original 1962 book. In the second part of the book, Scull and Hammond provide the original/earlier versions of the poems, some of the variations of them over the years, definitions of some of the more obscure words Tolkien used, and commentary. The poem that seems to be about Tom but does not give his full name is in an appendix. It was not included in the 1962 edition. 

"The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" and "Bombadil Goes Boating" are the first two poems in the book. They are delightful. There are other amusing poems in the collection, including ones from LOTR - "The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late" (sung by Frodo and the inn at Bree) and "Olipahunt" (recited by Sam). 

A happy read - and one of the books on my list of books to read this year.