Marquez: Memories of My Melancholy Whores – Comment. (Archives)

 Disturbing.  

After many years of silence, (2006) Marquez has given us a novella that touches on many themes: reminiscences of a long life filled with sensual pleasures, artistic pursuits, and intellectual achievements, though lacking in the one aspect of life that for some, makes life worth living - love. 

 Our protagonist is a sensitive old man, living in his long dead parents' large house. He writes a weekly column for the city's newspaper on varying topics from the town's history, literary and musical reviews, and the perspectives of a scholar of ninety years of age. 
 

Never married, throughout his long life, his habits have been to visit brothels to gratify his basic physical desires. As he well knows, however, sexuality does not necessarily equate to love. 

 To celebrate his ninetieth birthday, he decides to make a request to an old Madam, and that is to supply him with a young virgin to spend during the night of this momentous event. As usual, a gentleman in every respect, he spends two hours dressing, looking immaculate, and arrives at the back entrance of the house of ill repute. 
 
He finds the young girl in the room, sleeping nude on the bed. She of course is beautiful, where, surprisingly, he chooses to simply watch her sleep. The dawn arrives and he silently leaves the room and goes out the back door. This is only the beginning, as he finds himself experiencing a feeling he has never really felt before in his ninety years. 
 
As adolescent love, true love, sometimes does, it acts as inspiration, and the old man begins to write beautiful and extraordinary love letters as part of his weekly column and becomes famous throughout the city. Readers write in from everywhere praising the old man for his insight into the ways of pure and unrequited love. 
 
This novella is in no way a sentimental journey of old age and romantic love. It is a sad treatise of a full life without real connection, however, the loneliness of those in old age who have never experienced the beauty of the spiritual in a woman. 
 
Why this writer calls this love a pure one, is that the old man and young woman never consummate their feelings, as he only watches her as she sleeps, and dreams and thinks about her when he is away from her. 
 
Memories of My Melancholy Whores is wonderfully written and translated, so lyrical and poetic. It is a lesson about the pitfalls of old age and the utter necessity that love can become part of our lives as loneliness in old age can be a terrible end to a long life. 

Beautiful and Disturbing.  

Klagge – Wittgenstein: Biography & Philosophy – Comment.

 

This splendid text is a collection of erudite essays covering the many aspects of the philosopher's thoughts, ideas and scattered pieces regarding his interesting life and eccentric personality. 

 There are nine essays in all, including an intriguing essay by Ray Monk, (Wittgenstein's biographer) arguing that philosophy as biography is simply a path to understanding the philosopher but can also blaze a greater learning path to understanding the work itself. 
 
Another German philosopher, Fredric Nietzsche, proposed that all philosophy is but a biography of the philosopher. This could well be true however this argument continues to rage in the present time. 
 
In David Stern's essay, "Was Wittgenstein a Jew", explores specific pieces of Wittgenstein's writing that on face value can be interpreted as antisemitic. However, though, circa 1929, in his study of language, Stern writes,  

"...Wittgenstein came to see that the notion of an underlying essential structure (in language) was a demand imposed by a certain way of seeing things, rather than something given to us by the nature of things." (P. 253)

It seems though, that to get to the root of the matter, that is, language as natural yet relative to time and social conditions, one would need to delve into a deep self-analysis. Interestingly, Wittgenstein was intensely retrospective all his life, and confessed to a few friends that he had lied about his Jewish heritage. These "confession(s)" were an attempt to clear his conscience, clean his soul, so to speak, because he felt his research, as a philosopher, would be fruitless in a state of self-denial. 
 
My personal favorite essay is "Deep Disquietudes" (excellent title), which writes about Wittgenstein's extreme sensitivity and sense of vulnerability. (P. 109) He discusses the philosopher's possible schizoid personality. He uses many examples from his writings, letters and those who "knew" the man. This essay is beautifully written and offers a plenitude of food for thought. 
 
At least a familiarity with the works of Wittgenstein would be of value for the reader of this text, then again, someone new to Wittgenstein’s work with a kernel of curiosity would enjoy this well edited collection of essays. 
 

Passmore. Fascism: A Very Short Introduction. Comment.

When one considers the ideology of fascism many notions and images spring to mind: totalitarianism, nationalism, ultranationalism, racism, oppression, censorship, violence, Nazism, Para militarism, right wing conservatism, radicalism, eugenics and the Holocaust. As Kevin Passmore suggests, Fascism is all these things and not these things, as it has a mercurial nature. In fact, "...fascism, as Ortega y Gasset says, is always `A' and not `A'." (p.11)

Passmore devotes most of this text to the inter-war years where fascism manifested in its most blatant forms. Although Mussolini and Hitler have been labelled or are the most famous fascists in modern history, their brand of fascism, however, and how they developed, are quite different. For the most part, fascism is multi-layered and complex, as it attracts all genders, and people from all classes and political sensibilities. To define this elusive term, the author has attempted to reveal the specific historical context in which fascism, in its various forms, raised its head - and from these studies, similarities can be made.

What are the common denominators inclusive to fascism? According to Passmore, its central purpose is national unity. However, it is a national unity in the way "they" define it. He goes on to write that all "isms" feminism, socialism, communism, capitalism etc., particularly for the ultranationalism form of fascism, are rejected wholesale, as the entire nation must conform to the one ideal. Most common to fascism is the desire to rid their country of all foreigners, to ensure all aspects of social and economic life are controlled. Immigration is stopped totally, and immigrants are either persuaded to leave the country or, in the case of the Nazis, exterminated. Moreover, Passmore believes that Fascist social policy, for example, "...is consciously shaped by ultranationalism, political discrimination, and racism." (p. 150)

Fascism today, Passmore suggests, continues to exist in its many forms across the globe, however, these political parties choose not to call themselves fascist as the term has too many negative connotations. The author prefers to call the new fascists, "national populism", as they are essentially the rise of the extreme right, included in such countries as France, Denmark, Austria and the United States. In France, the far-right party, the French National Front, focuses on the "foreign elements" and the advance of socialism, feminism and immigration. Whereas in the United States, nation populism has manifested in the form of "militias", white supremacist who are radically against government regulation or intervention of any kind.

Although a brief overview of fascism and its whys and hows, for the most part, it is clearly written, easily understood despite its complex subject matter, and a text that makes the reader want to investigate further. 

Cormac McCarthy – No Country for Old Men – Comment

Has the world changed, so much so, that all values and principles, basic manners, all respect for ourselves and our fellow human beings, has diminished to such an extent, to where: " Evil flourishes, because Good men do Nothing."?  

 If this is truly the case, as suggested in McCarthy's book, as a civilization, we are doomed to mayhem, lost causes, and no respect for the past. 

 
One could say that McCarthy's book is simply violent; though the violence is a smack in the face as to where we, as a civilization, are going. 
 
The violence is a drastic representation of our current Western society: children brought up without values, relationships that last so long to then die, leaving collateral damage, namely the children. Grandparents from the last generation left to bring up the children. But as Bell, the protagonist points out, "Who will take care of those children as responsibility has gone by the wayside". (Paraphrased). 
 
McCarthy is a clever and deeply gifted writer. This book is not about an old man yearning or lamenting for the good days gone past. The book is about basic decency, manners, and respect gone somewhere into the fog...people, in general, including the children, seem to not care anymore, except for themselves. 
 
If you have apathy in the masses, Evil grows like weeds in your garden. 
 
No Country for Old Men, for those who can still read, is a wakeup call to DO something because our world is headed to Hell in a hand basket. 
 
This beautifully written tale is about greed, chance, true evil, the chance to do the right thing, and the collateral damage that evil will create when not stopped. 
 
But does anyone care anymore unless it directly touches their lives? 
 
In general, from my experience, the answer is an absolute...NO! 
 
The plot to this story is known to most and would be redundant to summarize. 
 
The Cohen brother's film adaptation of the novel never strays and is right on the mark. McCarthy's book, though, cuts deep, made the issues it raised more real, and that most Western countries belong to the no responsible waste land of a drug-ridden world. 
 

It is a depressing novel, yet in the end, Bell's dream gives us Hope that there is Light in the fog ahead...for all. 

 

Religion & Ideology will be the Planet’s Downfall.

War is a part of the human condition. The first recorded war was circa 3600 BCE. Since WWII, most wars were caused by ideology or religion. When taking a close look at war over the past 70 years, economics plays a huge role, making billions for the select few. The 20th century must be the most devastating in terms of the mass murder of innocents and civilians. One thinks of the NAZI holocaust, and the unnecessary atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. The bombing of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, murdering millions of civilians, exceeds the total bombs unloaded during WWII.

There has been so much death and destruction in this lifetime, that becoming desensitized to war in general is a terrible possibility. What is happening in the Israeli/Gaza war since October 7 of last year, the absolute annihilation of the Palestinian people, far outweighs any war I have seen before in my lifetime. And the obliteration of the Palestinians is only getting worse.  

The word genocide is being thrown around a lot since witnessing the persistent bombing of Gaza. The reality of the situation is that the government of Israel and its military have clearly stated their intentions: Gaza will be razed to the ground and all Gazan's eliminated. The amount of Palestinian's killed over the last 3 months is around 23,000, though this is a low estimate as many bodies still lay under the rubble. Over 150 journalists have been murdered, which is unprecedented. Hospitals all through Gaza have been destroyed. That much needed aid: water food, medicine, fuel, electricity has been prevented by Israel to enter the country. Palestinians have been told to move south to safety, only to be murdered while travelling. Most recently a refugee camp was bombed, killing over 70 Palestinians. This was intentional. This is a war crime. This is genocide.  

Why is Israel committing these war crimes in full view of the civilized world? The answer is a religious and ideological one. A 3000-year-old religious document claims this area of land to belong to the Jewish people. No matter that Palestine and its people have been living there for 2000 years, a portion of the Jewish people believe the land is a divine right given by God. The ideology of Zionism also proclaims Jews have the right to inhabit Israel. Not only Israel, however, but the right to advance and conquer the middle east. In the 21st century these are flimsy arguments and has created Israel as an apartheid state. Religion and ideology have spawned this advanced genocide and might well lead the planet to a regional war...WWIII. 

The Cold War between Russia and the US was a conflict between two ideologies: communism and democracy/capitalism. The number of civilian deaths in southeast Asia runs into the millions. The US’s interference in Latin American countries since the 50’s to present time is about political ideology, (democracy vs. socialism) though economics and the forced acquisition of resources also plays a significant role in the killing of thousands of innocents.  

When one digs a little deeper into the causes of war and its justifications, racism, and the notion of one race being superior to another, is a significant factor.  

The current slaughter of the Palestinian people has a huge racist component. One can see this attitude firsthand by watching Tic Toc videos from a certain portion of the Israeli people. It is quite disgusting and difficult to watch.  

We look at history to see most wars were ‘holy wars’ between two faiths attempting to be the major religion on the planet. From a spiritual standpoint, this is ridiculous. However, in the current Israel/Palestine genocide, the superiority of one faith over another: Islam and the Jewish tradition. Again, in the 21st century, such conflicts are absurd and should be easily reconciled. But we have not gained any wisdom as human beings for a long time.  

There is only a small fraction of the immensely powerful that continue these wars. Many human beings want to simply live their lives, worship their own way, work meaningful jobs, be with their families, and to love and be loved.  

To be truly human is the only way.