Art and Literature – Page 5

The Reversing Earth

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The Reversing Earth (1982) by Peter Warlow

‘The Reversing Earth’ is a book that sets out to answer some very disturbing questions, Why did ancient peoples insist the sun at one time rose in the west and not the east? What could account for the magnetic anomalies preserved in our sea beds? Why did conditions for mammoths and many other animals change so catastrophically, and relatively recently? These and other questions not satisfactorily answered by any one theory, are brought together in a comprehensive, readable, and logical theory that also serves as a guide to Catastrophist, as opposed to Uniformitarian scientific thinking. It thus gives due consideration to Velikovsky, but should be more palatable to his detractors, as this theory does not involve impacts with other cosmic bodies. One of the original considerations by Velikovsky was why such a theory should be so unpalatable to us, and of course it is simply that, logically, if it happened once, it could happen again.

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The Madness of Prince Hamlet

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“Hamlet” (York Notes Advanced)

“Whether Hamlet is ever mad, or considered mad, is argued over by critics long and hard. No two performances will convey the same impression of the state of Hamlet’s mind after his interview with the Ghost” (York notes,p86). Every critic, of course, has a different opinion. The majority appear to concur he went mad, with most favouring the position he intended to feign madness in order to exact revenge for his father’s death, perhaps without foresight as to the precise means, but rapidly succumbed to genuine madness as events unfolded. It is unclear what level of insight he had at each stage of the tragic process.

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The Bridge of San Luis Rey

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The Bridge of San Luis Rey (Penguin Modern Classics) (1927) by Thornton Wilder

To discuss the question ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’ in so short a story is a feat in itself, but also should bring a wider audience to a question of universal importance. First published in 1927, the book deserves to be better known.

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Out of Africa

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Out of Africa (1937) by Karen Blixen

The book was purposefully written as a picture of Kenya as it was, it is not an autobiography as such. The writing style of the book is clearly influenced by Isak Dinesen’s first language, Danish, and therefore has a magical air that is throughly enjoyable..

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The Two Babylons

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The Two Babylons: or, the Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and his Wife (1916) by Alexander Hislop

Hislop’s work, nearly 100 years old, is still the best starting point for studying comparative religion. Of course, there is much in it that is no longer valid, and so long as the Vatican still stands,it will probably always feature on their banned books list, however, the main theme of the book is incontestable, which is probably why I know of no serious rebuttal.

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The Cone Gatherers: A Haunting Story of Violence and Love

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The Cone Gatherers: A Haunting Story of Violence and Love (Canongate Classics)

This short novel must rightly be regarded as a modern classic. It has been compared to ‘Of mice and men’, but the focus is not just on the cone gatherers, but also the complex figure of Duror, the gamekeeper. The challenge put by Robin Jenkins, I believe, is the dichotomy, or division between good and evil, and the different feelings about imperfection, as expressed by the characters..

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Sunset Song

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Sunset Song

‘Sunset song’ is a hauntingly beautiful tale. I came to it whilst living in North-east Scotland. Sunset song, and the companion novels making up ‘A Scots Quair’, are written in a blend of English and Scots words that only at first seem strange or daunting, you soon find that Grassic Gibbon evokes a lost age in a unique and very effective manner, using very little dialogue (in italics), but talking to the reader all the while..

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The Old Straight Track

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The Old Straight Track (1927) by Alfred Watkins

My casual interest in ley-lines stems from my teenage years, when I, like others, found it possible to connect ancient sites on OS maps in the way Alfred Watkins describes. I found it worth investigating, and discovered ‘The Old Straight Track’ to be far more coherent in explanation of ley-lines, and related features, than much of what has been written since.

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Romeo and Juliet (Cambridge School Shakespeare)

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This edition of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ has much to recommend it, not simply for students. Accompanying each page of text is a study section explaining the language and context, but also engaging the reader in a series of questions about their own feelings of what is happening, or what Shakespeare might have intended?

Differing opinion on these questions is inevitable. The play of course, deserves the reputation of the ultimate expression of romantic love in western literature, and we are forced to look for credible reasons for its tragic conclusion. It addresses timeless issues that matter to all humanity.

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