Synchronicity Means Making Up Meaning Where There Isn't Any

All right, Jeremy catching up.

Books for School

World Mythology, edited by Roy Willis. The primary text for the comparative mythology class I'm assistant teaching. Decent overview but poorly copy-edited, some factual errors, and an overall approach that I find colonialist and condescending. (Did I mention I actually cursed out loud at Joseph Campbell in the library today?) 307 pgs.

Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality: Volume 1, really should be translated something like The Will to Knowledge. Impossible to encapsulate simply, but crudely summarized Foucault brilliantly argues that the whole concept of "sexuality" is something society made up in the 17th century to enforce power over women, children, homosexuals - and eventually ourselves. Read it several times and with someone who knows what they're talking about and you'll see it has to be true. 159 pgs.

Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. Another brilliantly argued book that surveys the entirety of Western moral philosophy to see what's gone wrong. Why are we all shouting at each other instead of having intelligent arguments - in other words, Why in God's name did Fox News happen? MacIntyre argues that the Enlightenment project to base morality in individual reason led to the fragmentation of any possible common language of what's a good thing to do, and suggests a return to Aristotle's concept of a community guided by virtue instead. A wonderful read and easy to grasp on its own terms - and not a bad introduction to several key thinkers of philosophy as well. 278 pgs.

Books for Fun

David Leavitt, The Indian Clerk. The real reason for the title of my post (which I happen to also believe). An interesting dovetail with my philosophical reading (especially Wittgenstein and Foucault), this book is a fictional account of mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan's correspondence and contact with Cambridge mathematician G. H. Hardy. Much sexier than it sounds, Hardy considers his own failed attempts at romance, the mysticism of mathematics, and pacifism during the Great War. A sensitive look at complex manifestations of same-gender activity in the Disciples at Cambridge, which also features cameos by Bertrand Russell, D.H. Lawrence, and Herr Wittgenstein himself. Highly recommended - and you don't have to understand math to enjoy it. 485 pgs.

Mario Vargas Llosa, The Bad Girl. Another fascinating tangent connecting to philosophy and cultural studies. The story of a Peruvian expatriate translator in Paris and his contact over the significant decades of the 20th century with a power-and-riches hungry compatriot with whom he is still loyally in love. A look at the changing face of world politics and changing gender roles in the 1950s through 1980s centered around a good man loving the girl gone bad. No cameos, but mentions Derrida, Deleuze, and Lacan among others. Another recommended read. 276 pgs.

And finally, the book that got away - a graphic novel (that's "sequential narrative" to you skeptics). Sadly not that good. The Spectre: Tales of the Unexpected. In the DC Universe that includes Superman and Batman, the Spectre is literally the supernatural incarnation of the Wrath of God. This has been used to quite interesting and sophisticated effect in past comic book history. Not so much here - more an excuse for an adolescent gorefest. Are comics getting stupid again? (They were smart for so long there. Sigh.) 128 pgs.