Gilead

Sometimes right there in the middle of a novel is a little piece of prose paradise that cannot be improved upon. It articulates a thought which may have floated somewhere in the grey nothing of your mind better than you could ever say it. Or think it. Here's a little piece of said magic from Gilead by Marilynne Robinson:

'In every important way we are such secrets from each other, and I do believe that there is a separate language in each of us, also a separate aesthetics and a separate jurisprudence. Every single one of us is a little civilization built on the ruins of any number of preceding civilizations, but with our own variant notions of what is beautiful and what is acceptable - which, I hasten to add, we generally do not satisfy and by which we struggle to live. We take fortuitous resemblances among us to be actual likeness, because those around us have also fallen heir to the same customs, trade in the same coin, acknowledge, more or less, the same notions of decency and sanity. But all that really just allows us to coexist with the inviolable, untraversable and utterly vast spaces between us.'

Comments

[cmh]

Yeah, not bad...

But slightly trumped, if I may be so bold, by one of my personal favourites,

"Not in a box, not with a fox, not in a train, not in the rain. I do not like green eggs and ham, Sam I Am!"
(there is a picture to accompany this, by the way, that is just amazing - really brings the words to life, even more)

Here's to sharing a love of fine literature.

[York G'ma]

..."jurisprudence" ...please explain.......??

[katie]

Ahhh. I just read that exert again and it truly makes me sigh with satisfaction. Such a beauty. The whole book is full of bliss-bombs like that. Too bad I had to return it to the library. Better buy it I guess...actually I will have paid for it 3 times over by the late return fine accrued. Happens with every loan. The library should just be called Books For Hire. I bet they make a mint. I think there should still be a library van that loads up once a week with a new selection and trawls the streets like Mr Whippy. I remember they used to have it in country towns. So sensible.

Jurisprudence: Philsophy of law. The set of personal principles by which we govern ourselves, in this case. Usually it would mean the philsophy of the law which governs a people group. But I think she is making the point that, in fact, we all live under our own mini governence with our own reasons (philosophy) behind that law - hence the comment "with our own variant notions of what is beautiful and acceptable" etc etc.

Our very clever prayer ministry leader, ex-nun and ex-Lit teacher Pat happened to use the very term in conversation the day before I read this. What a woman!

And yes I am waffling on because I have to write an essay on a Shakespeare-esque tragedy play which is even more befuddling than Shakespeare could manage and I really can't be bothered. Hope you enjoyed the procrastination attempt!

[katie]

PS Do you think 'Sam I Am' was literally DESIGNED to confuse children and encourage them to talk dribble?? Maybe it was a teaching tool for 3 letter words!!

[York G'ma]

Well, I reckon I could have said in four words what it took Marilyn R a whole paragraph to say = live and let live!!

And yes "Sam I am" was definitely designed to confuse, and not just the kids!

[kathryn]

I have heard that Green Eggs and Ham was written as a dare that a book couldn't be written with less than 50 different words. Apparently Dr Seuss managed it in 49 and made it a best seller.... (I have to admit that I haven't verified this - but it makes for a good point I think - why not try to incorporate it into your Shakespeare essay Katie? would like to see that!)

[katie]

I HONESTLY believe that my playwright Webster (close contemporary of Shakespeare tho not quiet the same romantic) has actually tried to use AS MANY words as possible to say a very simple thing. Hence the frustration of reading these damn plays! Tho must admit sometimes it does sound kind of cool and just a bit clever....'specially when they even get it to rhyme in that 'hymn style rhyming' where the rhyme doesn't QUITE fit so we just say 'what the heck' and cut the last syllable off the word instead and pretend to not notice when the congregation falls out of step entirely with the organ.