ANN’S MUSINGS – Memento mori
I was at a memorial service the other day for a very great and kind man who died unexpectedly while fully and deeply engaged in life.
I was reminded of this 5th century fresco I have seen several times at the Benedictine monastery of Sacro Speco (Sacred Cave) in Subiaco, Italy. This ancient painting shows death on horseback, stamping on people of all ages and brandishing a sword against those alive.
What shocked me when I first saw that fresco and what shocked me again upon learning of this death and so many others is that life (unlike light bulbs) does not come with a guaranteed life span. All we can do is live the all the days of our years deeply and abundantly.
Joe certainly did.
Here is an excerpt from a tribute written by a colleague.
“As a scholar of great precision and subtlety, Joe knew that there are no simple answers to anything. Yet he was also a man of strong ideals and principles, and he knew from his study of world religions how indispensible icons and images are. In that same introduction [to a volume of papers from a conference on the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, he and his wife wrote: ‘Our human world is a world shaped by symbols, by images. We are bound to select from and simplify the infinite complexity of what we perceive. Somehow we much choose and act, must decide what to value and strive for, what to fear and guard against. For what can be quantified, we may have recourse to computers and their algorithms to enable us to select, simplify and act. For what is humanly meaningful, individually and collectively, for what is imbued with feeling and integral to who and what we know or imagine ourselves to be, we resort to more open, multivalent and suggestive symbolism, to images.”
It is my humble hope that Classical Pursuits gives people access to the world of symbols and images from whence we derive meaning.
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TRAVEL PURSUITS – Reading paintings with Sean Forester: the artist as critic
Some of you will have travelled with Sean Forester on a Travel Pursuit in one or another region of Italy. Others of you will have participated in one of his seminars at Toronto Pursuits. All who have encountered Sean will know that he is a passionate about classical painting and has an extraordinary gift in helping us see from the point of view of an artist. Sean a classically trained painter and recently relocated from Florence to the Bay Area of San Francisco where he has opened a painting school. He is also exceptionally well-read in the classics and more than musically literate.
Sean and I have been kicking around a number of trip possibilities for next year or two. We welcome your guidance. The information below is schematic but should be enough to give you a rough idea of the possibilities. While the emphasis would be on art, we would pair related literature with each trip and take advantage of the wonderful musical offerings as they are available, like the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the new Mariinski Theatre in St. Petersburg.
Kindly reply to this blog post or send me a personal email, telling us if any of these trips strike your fancy. We welcome suggested modifications or entirely different trip ideas. ann.kirkland@classicalpursuits.com.
(You can enlarge the images below by double clicking on each.)
Belle Epoque Paris
Death of Marat, by David
Mrs. Frederick R. Leyland (detail), by Whistler
Nineteenth Century Paris is one of the pinacles of Western art. From classicism and romanticism to realism, impressionism and art nouveau, Paris was the center of European culture. The 19th Century was a time of tumult and change, and Paris was the centre where cultures and ideas collided to gave birth to the modern world. We will look at some of the great French painters, sculptors, and writers of the time. We will also focus on Americans in Paris such as Whistler, Sargent, Cassat, and Saint-Gaudens.
Possible texts:
Short stories by Maupassant, Flaubert, Zola, or Balzac
Poetry and writings on art by Baudelaire
Journal of Delacroix, letters by Degas and Van Gogh
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough
Itinerary: Sunday to Saturday
Day 1: Neoclassicism Louvre – visit 1, free afternoon
Day 2: Romanticism Louvre – visit 2 (or Delacroix museum), seminar on Delacroix, Baudelaire
Day 3: Realism 1 Orsay – visit 1, seminar on French short stories
Day 4: Realism 2 Petit Palais, Rodin’s house museum, free afternoon
Day 5: Impressionism Monet’s museums, seminar on Degas, Van Gogh
Day 6: Art Neaveau, Modernism Orsay- visit 2, Montemartre
Day 7: Review. Walking tour of Americans in Paris or trip to Giverny with Sean offering a painting demo
Baroque Rome
Pluto & Proserpina (detail) by Bernini
The Entombment of Christ, by Caravaggio
Rome is the eternal city. While every epoch has left its mark, Rome is perhaps best defined by the Baroque. The city overflows with sculpture and grand architecture: paintings by Caravaggio, sculptures by Bernini, churches by Bramante and Borromini. We will focus on Rome in the 17th Century, the center of the counter reformation Catholicism with its powerful, ornate art. We’ll begin with Michelangelo, a great precursor, and discuss the relationship between science and religion with reference to Galileo and St. Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits. We’ll close with a discussion of Baroque elements in modern Italy with the work of Fellini.
Possible texts:
Meditations of St. Ignatius
Writings of Gallilio, Bruno, Vico
Roman Baroque by Anthony Blunt
La Dolce Vita by Fellini
Itinerary: Sunday to Saturday
Day 1: Villa Borghese (Bernini, Caravaggio)
Day 2: Vatican museum, free afternoon
Day 3: Caravaggio Churches, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Canova cafe
Day 4: Borromini Churches, Seminar on St. Ignatius, Gallileo and Bruno
Day 5: Baroque Garden at Tivoli (Day trip)
Day 6: Capuchins crypt, Cortona at Il Gesu church, watch Fellini
Day 7: Final Seminar, Food walk with Katie Parla
Russian Realism
Portrait, by Kromskoy
A Religious Procession (detail) by Repin
Realism was a worldwide movement in the late 19th Century, from Dickens in England, to Twain in America, and Courbet in France. But it was perhaps in Russia where realism really blossomed. Many of us know of the novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. the plays of Chekhov, the stories of Turgenev. What is less known in the West are the remarkable paintings of Repin, Levitan, and Kromskoy. These Russian artists were friends with the writers and painted their portraits. They shared a passion for social justice and a love for their Russian homeland. Russian realism in art and literature makes for an exciting journey.
Possible texts:
Selected short works by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Chekhov
Itinerary
Day 1: Moscow 1 – City and Churches, (Seminar 1)
Day 2: Moscow 2 –Tretyakov Gallery
Day 3: Moscow 3—Tolstoy’s House day trip or Polenov House day trip (closer)
Day 4: Moscow 4—Chekhov’s House, Dostoevsky House (Seminar 2), Bolshoi Ballet
Day 5: Travel (4hrs by train), (Seminar 3)
Day 6: St. Petersburg 1– Hermitage
Day 7: St. Petersburg 2– Russian Museum
Day 8: St. Petersburg 3—City and Churches (Seminar 4)
Day 9: St. Petersburg 4—Peterhof palace, Kirov Ballet or Opera
Day 10: Final Review, (Seminar 5)
Dutch Golden Age
The Jewish Bride, by Rembrandt
The Milkmaid, by Vermeer
The 17th Century in Holland is called the Golden Age. This was a flowering of art and culture that accompanied the new wealth from Dutch trading. Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Hals are surrounded by many other fine artists. Dutch still life, landscape, and interiors are some the most beautiful ever painted. Holland was and remains a stable, tolerant and inclusive society and this is exemplified by the revolutionary philosophy of Spinoza. The Dutch are also practiced at science, design and urban planning. Our Classical Pursuits trip will center on the Golden Age, but as a finale will also consider the role of art and science in Holland today.
Possible texts:
Spinoza
Books on Rembrandt and Vermeer (Rembrandt: The Painter at Work, Girl with Pearl Earring)
Itinerary: Sunday to Saturday in Amsterdam
Day 1: Rijksmuseum 1 (Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals)
Day 2: Rembrandt’s House Museum, Seminar
Day 3: Day trip to the Hague for Vermeer
Day 4: Day trip to the Harleem for Hals
Day 5: Van Loon museum, canal tour, Seminar
Day 6: Rijksmuseum 2 (Still Life and Landscape)
Day 7: Day trip to either Kinderdijk (windmills) or Keukenhof (gardens)
Portrait of a Nation -Washington D.D.
Lincoln by George Peter Alexander Healy
Maga''s Daughter by Wyeth
For this Classical Pursuits trip we head to the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. to look at some great portrait paintings. We will consider the portrait as both personal and political. From old masters at the National Portrait Gallery to the presidental portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, from the American impressionists to Wyeth’s paintings of his family and friends, we will explore all aspects of portraiture. The best portraits capture character, and this holds in writing as well as art. In this spirit we will look at a portrait of Lincoln and his circle as we read Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Pulitzer winning book that is being made into a film with Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln.
Possible Text:
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Itinerary: Sunday to Wednesday in Washington DC
Day 1: National Gallery, seminar 1
Day 2: National Portrait Gallery, seminar 2
Day 3: Freer Gallery and Lincoln memorial other monuments (maybe in the evening)
Day 4: Day trip to Wyeth Museum in Brandywine
–OR–
Day 4: National Museum of American History, Final dinner
America’s Love Affair with Europe – New York City
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Champion Single Sculls by Eakins
As the United States grew and prospered in the 19th century, artists, writers, and the elite looked to European culture. Painters Eakins and Sargent, sculptors Saint-Guadens and Chester French, architects White and Hastings, were all connected to Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Industrials like Frick, Mellon and Rockefeller collected European art. American cities founded museums, and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art led the way as it purchased pictures by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Dyck, Titian. The romance with Europe was also personal as Americans travelled to Europe, met and married Europeans. This drama became the material for novelists like James and Wharton. At the same time, Americans were searching for their own identity in art and life. What would an American voice sound like? We’ll explore both American’s love affair with Europe and her struggle to become a new nation.
Possible Texts:
Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee
Itinerary: Sunday to Wednesday in New York City
Day 1: Met: European Art, Seminar 1
Day 2: Frick, visit to the AlgonquinHotel, Palace Hotel café, or Russian Tea Room, Seminar 2
Day 3: Met: American Painting and Sculpture, Opera or NY Philharmonic
Day 4: NY Public Library, Morgan Library, Final dinner
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TORONTO PURSUITS – Sound Advice from Rick Phillips
I hope you can join me for Toronto Pursuits 2012 in July for The Concerto: Studies in Contrast. We’ll be delving into the Brandenburg Concertos by Bach, the Clarinet Concerto by Mozart, and many others as we follow the development of the concerto through the centuries.
Why did it change and how did it reflect society at the time? How does it relate today? A variety of concertos for different solo instruments will be featured, all from famous recordings by legendary soloists, orchestras and conductors.
Have a listen here to the last movement of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 by Bach – a textbook case of the Baroque Concerto, which is where we’ll start. Notice the constantly changing textures, instrumental make-ups, calls and answers, big group vs. small, etc.
It was these new effects that the composer and audiences loved, leading to the Classical Concerto, like the Mozart Clarinet Concerto. Now we’ve morphed into the solo concerto – for one instrument against the orchestra, but like all Mozart, notice the operatic traits – like an opera aria, with drama and lyricism, passion, conflict and reconciliation, and the virtuosity of the clarinet soloist. As we move into the 19th C., the concerto’s trait of the one v. the many grows into the Romantic hero notion – the outsider v. the conformed, the wanderer, the outcast seeking redemption, as well as the dazzling vehicle for great virtuosos, like Paganini, Liszt and Chopin.
The Rachmaninoff No. 3 is reputedly the most difficult piano concerto. (I have problems with these claims – name one that is easy!!) Composed by one of the greatest pianists in history, it shows the piano (and pianist) off in a brilliant light. As Rachmaninoff claimed, “I want to write music that is indigenous to the instrument.”
The origins of the word “concerto” are unclear. Some believe it to derive from the Latin word “concertare” meaning to argue or contend. Others believe it stems from the Latin word “conserere,” or to unite. I like to think that it derives from both, because both elements are in all concertos – to contend AND to unite. In the simplest terms, a concerto is a musical composition intended to display the capabilities of a musical instrument through the skill and artistry of a talented musician. But it is so much more! A showpiece for dexterity, display, dazzle and delight – an example of mental concentration, physical endurance, a battle between a solitary musical hero and a full orchestra, with victory as the result. Contention and agreement, competition and triumph, rivalry and reconciliation – the concerto is Life itself.
As with all my Toronto Pursuits sessions, l’m looking forward to the usual stimulating discussions, questions and points of view. Always an ear-opening learning experience!!
I will also be giving an afternoon talk on Tuesday, July 17 on the concept of leadership as realized by watching a variety of conductors. The styles have changed over the years but why?? And, on Thursday evening, July 19, I will be giving the pre-concert talk before the performance by the Seoul Spring Festival Ensemble as part of the Toronto Summer Music Festival. I will talk about French Chamber Music.
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ON THE ROAD WITH ANN – Tiptoe through the tulips
Not one of Flora’s brilliant race
A form more perfect can display;
Art could not feign more simple grace
Nor Nature take a line away.
- James Montgomery, On Planting a Tulip-Root
Everybody thinks that tulips come from Holland. Actually, Tulips are native to Central Asia and Turkey. In the 16th Century they were brought to Holland from Turkey, and quickly became widely popular. Today Tulips are cultivated in Holland in great numbers and in huge fields. Dutch bulbs, including tulips and daffodils, are exported all around the world so people think that it’s originated from there as well. In fact many cultivated varieties were widely grown in Turkey long before they were introduced to European gardens.
The botanical name for tulips, Tulipa, is derived from the Turkish word “tulbend” or “turban”, which the flower resembles. It’s considered as the King of Bulbs.
In the 17th century the overgrown interest and high popularity of Tulips brought a sort of “Tulipmania” in Holland. Especially in 1637, bulbs were highly praised and prices went up day by day reaching extraordinary numbers. Bulbs were sold by weight, usually while they were still in the ground. Some examples could cost more than a house. The Dutch government unsuccessfully tried to outlaw this commerce but couldn’t do anything to stop it, the trade was all about access and demand. But the end of the game came quickly; over-supply led to lower prices and dealers went bankrupt and many people lost their savings because of the trade, and the tulip market crashed.
I was lucky enough to be in the Netherlands recently during tulip season. I did know, from an earlier trip to Turkey, that tulips were brought to the Netherlands from Turkey. But I had no idea of the variety. Upright and demure to wanton and wild, and every colour and combination imaginable, I hope you enjoy these photos.
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ON THE ROAD WITH ANN – Take your soul for a stroll this October.
Los amigos buenos días,
I was sorry to learn that one of our twelve travellers to walk the last hundred
miles of the Camino de Santiago this October has had to cancel. TAKING YOUR SOUL FOR A STROLL: A hundred miles on the Camino de Santiago.
I would now like to open that vacancy to one of you.
The Camino is the crown jewel of European walking trails and is an ancient
pilgrimage route through exquisite and varied landsapces of Northen Spain.
I walked 500 miles of the Camino on my own in 2010. Some of you read My
Camino Chronicle.
One of the lasting lessons I brought home with me is how vital walking has
become for me – both the sheer pleasure of moving through space on my own steam and at my own pace and the wonderful way walking helps me to relect and to ponder.
I now look forward to sharing the most beautiful part of it with a small group
fellow travellers. We will enjoy the beauty of the varied landscape and undergo
demands on our bodies but wiithout the rigours of carrying our own packs or
staying in crowded accommodation. And we will wind down at the end of each day
over good food and wine and shared experiences.
Henry David Thoreau knew the wisdom of walking.
“My desire for knowledge is intermittent; but my desire to bathe my head in
atmospheres unknown to my feet is perennial and constant.”
And here is what Phil Cousineau has to say about that it means to be a pilgrim.
“The pilgrim is a poetic traveler, one who believes that there is poetry on the
road, at the heart of everything.”
Persons considering the Camino always have lots of questions, mainly about the
level of fitness required. I am happy to talk to any of you who wish to know
more. ann.kirland@classicalpursuits.com.
Ven con nosotros,
Ann
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TODAY IN LITERATURE – Vanishing Worlds
“It’s in the nature of things that whole worlds disappear,” writes the poet Robert Hass in the foreword to Jimmye Hillman’s insightful memoir Hogs, Mules and Yellow Dogs: Growing Up on a Mississippi Subsistence Farm . “Their vanishings, more often than not, go unrecorded or pass into myth, just as they slip from the memory of the living.”
I met Jimmye in the spring of 2008 when he took part in our second Flannery O’Connor trip to Savannah. Jimmye was one of two bona fide southerners on that trip, and both provided deep insights into a semi-alien world that required some cultural translation to help us better understand. This former head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at University of Arizona also told hair-raising tales over meals of his early childhood in rural Mississippi. Now he has put these collected memories to paper. I invited a member of my Great Books reading group, a fellow southerner, to read Jimmye’s memoir.
Here are Anne Farquharson’s reflections.
Jimmye Hillman is offering the reader an authentic entry into the rural Mississippi culture in which he grew up in the 20s and 30s and which he now recalls in his 88th year. The first story opens a window on the relationship of the Hillman family with the feral hogs living in the woods and swamps of the surrounding countryside. These animals are the basis for the family’s survival, and the young boy is excited to join the grown men in chasing down a hog to take back to the smoke house, even as he is imagining what is going on in the head of the hunted hog. It is then no surprise when in another story young Jimmye masters the art of humoring a stubborn mule. The reference to yellow dogs in the title takes us on a different path; yellow dogs are not animals but stubborn humans who would “rather vote for a yellow dog than a Republican.”
An intriguing aspect of this book is the attention to detail on a wide range of subjects. When you have finished the reading, you will know how to slaughter and butcher a hog, to make southern biscuits, to operate an aviary, to send a firecracker 100 feet into the air with a slingshot, to launch and run a campaign for the senate in the Deep South. Also included is a 12-page dictionary of words and terms used locally but not widely understood outside the area, which, along with the evocative photographs, brings to life the inhabitants and culture of Hillman’s remembered landscape.
Perhaps the most lasting impression is an insight into what personal and environmental interactions exert the strongest force in shaping a young person’s view of the world. Certainly the extreme poverty, isolation and ignorance of the outside world played a role in young Jimmye’s development, and the sense of family and closeness to the land are front and centre in his life, but what appears to have moved his heart to write this book is the memory of kindness, decency and a striving for justice that was imprinted on the boy by his parents, grandparents and the black lady who was hired as household help and who guided him gently through his adolescence.
Jimmye Hillman: Hogs, Mules and Yellow Dogs: Growing Up on a Mississippi Subsistence Farm
267pp. 41b/w photos
Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2012
ISBN 978-0-8165-2991-9 $19.75
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ON THE ROAD WITH ANN – Who said, “A picture is worth a thousand words”?
I don’t know about you, but I was surprised to find that that commonplace expression originates with Napoleon Bonaparte. It refers to the notion that a complex idea can be conveyed with just a single still image. It also aptly characterizes one of the main goals of visualization, namely making it possible to absorb large amounts of data quickly.
But that idea is behind our trip photo contest. Here are the winners from the two most recent trips, Confounded & Bewitched: The Strange Rise of Modern India and Mystery & Manners in Savannah: Selected works of Flannery O’Connor.
Congratulations to the winners and warm thanks to all those who made submissions.
It was difficult for the judges to select a winning image from the trip to India, both because there were so many fabulous photos submitted by many people and because the country is so rich that it is almost impossible to take a bad photo.
We have therefore settled on a single first, second and third prize plus three honourable mentions. They are all fabulous photos and it was not easy for the judges to decide.
FIRST PRIZE Ashish Khurana – Delhi, India
Laundry day in village near Varanasi
SECOND PRIZE Nancy Davis – Sooke, BC
The colours of India - from the source
THIRD PRIZE Michael Kirkland – Toronto, ON
A quiet moment in rare monochromatic palette
HONOURABLE MENTION – to Nancy Davis, Michael Kirkland and Ashish Khurana.
Threshold between public and private space
Purification immersion in Ganges River
Magical moment of sunrise on the Ganges
For Mystery & Manners in Savannah, the judges chose this image submitted by Christine Croucher. This image needs a little background. It is a barn on the property of Andalusia, the farm where Flannery O’Connor spent her final years and the setting for the final scene of “Good Country People.” Here is an excerpt from the text leading up to the entry into the barn. You can read the entire story here.
“Ain’t there somewheres we can sit down sometime?” he murmured, his voice softening toward the end of the sentence.
“In that barn” she said.
They made for it rapidly as if it might slide away like a train. It was a large two-story barn, cool and dark inside. the boy pointed up the ladder that led into the loft and said, “It’s too bad we can’t go up there.”
“Why can’t we?” she asked.
“Yer leg,” he said reverently.
The girl gave him a contemptuous look and putting both hands on the ladder, she climbed it while he stood below, apparently awestruck. She pulled herself expertly through the opening and then looked down at him and said, “Well, come on if you’re coming,” and he began to climb the ladder, awkwardly bringing the suitcase with him.
- Barn at Andalusia featured in “Good Country People”
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TRAVEL PURSUITS – A gentleman on the Mekong River
A chance encounter (at a local meeting of Camino aficianados) resulted in an extended conversation about the ways and means and the whys of travel. David Levin has been a serious and life-long traveller. When he learned that Classical Pursuits will be going to Vietnam and Cambodia this fall, his eyes lit up and he went into an extended rapture. I invited David to share with you some of what he told me.
***
Our boat - the Pandaw Mekong
There is something perfect about a cabin on a gorgeous teak boat headed up the Mekong River to Angkor Watt. Forget the image of a creaky, leaky riverboat. I’m talking about something out of Somerset Maugham. Read The Gentleman in the Parlour, Maugham’s account of his journey across South East Asia in the early 20th century. ”It is great to shake off the trammels of the world and public opinion…and become the creature of the moment…and to be known by no other title than ‘The Gentleman in the Parlour’.”
Stateroom on the Pandaw Mekong
The boat alone is worth the trip. Walking barefoot along the shiny exterior corridor to my cleverly designed, outside, windowed cabin with private loo and shower, I sort of wanted to apologize for feeling smug. With front and rear open decks, paneled dining room, brass railings, and smooth Mekong water, this river trip has remained with me forever.
I began my travel in Hanoi. I have seen Beijing, Tokyo, and Kuala Lumpur and Hanoi is like no other city in the Far East. A kaleidoscope of colonial architecture; a fantastic mix of French and Eastern food (perfect baguettes and fragrant pho;) rivers of bicycles; stunning tea houses; a vibrant and open street culture with music, art and craft; breathtaking elemental wet markets; and the least xenophobic people I’ve ever met. It whets your appetite for the rest of the country. And cruising up the Mekong River gives you the perfect opportunity to explore another world.
Mekong River
At first I was a bit concerned about spending multiple days on the river. But it never worked out that way. Think of the Mekong as a giant, water-based playing field where your boat feels more like a personal floating carpet. With three excellent meals you slow down to the pace of the river. Each day brings new distractions. Sparkling fishing villages; jaw dropping scenery so green it hurts your eyes; local boats doing every conceivable business from fishing to floating markets to heavy industrial haulage. You will get many scheduled stops, each totally different. After a while I surprised myself and devoted time each day to doing nothing–simply clearing my mind of clutter. It worked.
I had read so much about Vietnam, mainly colored by the Vietnam War. But the reality defied all preconceptions and remained dreamlike. For geography, imagine North Vietnam as the Swiss Alps in a tropical jungle. For world view, Vietnam is one of the world’s great paradoxes. A thousand years of literature, art, music and religion. Millennia of traumatic interaction with Asian neighbors and invasions from nations literally at the other end of the earth. And decades of colonization leaving indelible marks (think irresistible Parisian baking on almost every corner.)
If you are concerned (as a Westerner) about feeling unwelcome in Vietnam, your concerns are totally unfounded. The essence of Vietnam is fierce independence based in Buddhism and Taoism. These folk have successfully resisted thousands of years of trauma and when you meet them today you find an Asian Tiger with serenity. Vietnam is different. An openness that shines through and this is one reason I wanted to visit. In fact every visitor I met was totally enchanted with the place.
That’s not to say my Vietnam trip was without suggestions. This was a solo trip. I would have appreciated a well connected and knowledgeable guide. Local boatmen are fine but a deeper understanding of the country’s literature and culture is essential. I would love to have trekked with convivial and curious people into those local villages, rice paddies and markets; and explored the famous Viet Cong tunnels and talked to the local governing Councils. This would have added immeasurably to my experience.
Next time.
David Levin, Toronto
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TRAVEL PURSUITS – Why a new book for Vietnam?
Author of Headmaster's Wager
Here was the headline in the book review section of the Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper that caused me to stop and take notice. “Vincent Lam’s first novel, about Vietnam, has makings of a masterpiece.”
Vincent Lam is an emergency physician Toronto who also writes – very well. His first book Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures won the prestigious Giller Prize and has been adapted for television on HBO Canada.
Now, from this internationally acclaimed, and bestselling author, the son of Chinese expatriate émigrés from Vietnam, comes a superbly crafted, highly suspenseful, and deeply affecting novel set against the turmoil of the Vietnam War.
It was hearing the real-life stories of his parents and grandparents as a child growing up in Nepean, Ontario, – and simultaneously knowing that the community they described had vanished forever – that first inspired Lam to render them in fiction. He felt the need even more strongly as he read through all the standard English-language novels of the war.
“In a sense they added to the allure of the subject because I knew there was a whole other perspective,” Lam says, ticking off the usual suspects – Graham Greene, Tim O’Brien, Marguerite Duras. “I knew that in the midst of their conversation was another voice.”
In The Headmaster’s Wager, Lam puts that voice in the mouth of Percival Chen, a wealthy, somewhat dissolute Chinese immigrant whose ambition to remain distant from the turmoil of his adopted country is rewarded by total immersion in its ultimate apocalypse. It departs from the norm not only in its fully realized Asian perspective, but also in its steady focus on the personal lies of ordinary people caught in the war.
Blessed with intriguingly flawed characters moving through a richly drawn historical and physical landscape, The Headmaster’s Wager is a riveting story of love, betrayal and sacrifice.
Here is a link to recent reviews.
You can view a short video of Vincent Lam talking about this book.
I have the sense that Lam’s book will imaginatively capture Vietnam at a tumultuous time not unlike Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children sweep of India at the time of Partition.
We will also use Understanding Vietnam by Neil I. Jamieson as valuable background and discuss several short stories from Vietnam: A Traveler’s Literary Companion, by Vietnamese writers living in Vietnam and abroad.
If you are interested in discussing Dr. Lam’s book and the other readings with us in Hanoi, Saigon and cruising up the Mekong River on a brass and teak river boat, here is further information. Vietnam Voices: A Balanced Opposition.
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TRAVEL PURSUITS – So why don’t the Vietnamese hate the Americans?
Just last night, during intermission at a concert, I overheard a conversation between two people, one asking the other if she planned to join the fall Classical Pursuits trip Vietnam Voices: A Balanced Opposition. Over the din, I heard her response: “Oh, no, I could never go to Vietnam. I am an American.”
Vietnam has great appeal as a travel destination for Canadians, but for Americans it sometimes carries a heavy burden of sadness and guilt.
I am speaking here as an American. I was born in the United States, and am now a dual citizen, having lived in Canada longer than I did in the US. But my psyche has been profoundly shaped by what we call the Vietnam War. (The Vietnamese, of course, call it ‘The American War.) It was the defining event of an entire generation of Americans. And now, when Americans talk about the war in Iraq, the phrase, ‘Another Vietnam’ is uttered again and again.
This is one of the reasons that I was fascinated by the idea of visiting Vietnam. No other country in the world figured so decisively in life as I knew it growing up as an American.
In America, Vietnam is the war we lost, and probably never should have fought. It cost both Americans and Vietnamese thousands of lives and untold suffering.
In his radio essay for National Public Media, “Revisiting Vietnam: History and Reconciliation,” here is what investigative journalist Daniel Zwerdling has to say. (excerpts)
A lot of Americans who visit Vietnam shake their heads at some point and say to themselves, wait a minute. No matter how you felt about the war, whether you supported it, or opposed it, or fought in it, you can’t escape the basic facts: the Communist-led army killed 58,000 American troops. The US military and their South Vietnamese allies killed roughly a million soldiers and civilians in their own country. American warplanes destroyed vast areas of Vietnam with bombs and pesticides and fire. Why don’t the Vietnamese hate Americans?
“When I meet Americans it is the first question they ask me,” says Huu Ngoc, one of the best-known scholars in Vietnam. He’s taken us to a sacred site in Hanoi to explain his answers to the question. The Vietnamese call it the one-pillar pagoda. It rises on one pillar out of a murky pond that’s covered with purple lotus flowers. Smoke keeps twirling around it, from all the incense sticks that Buddhist pilgrims light at the altar. Huu says this pagoda reflects the first reason why Vietnamese have forgiven Americans.
“I think that until now, for many Americans, Vietnam is a synonym for war,” Ngoc says. “But the true face of Vietnam is not war. Buddhism for the Vietnamese means the heart and compassion and pity. It is our essential feature.”
Of course, many religions preach forgiveness. But Ngoc says there’s another explanation that’s more pragmatic. When you look at the whole sweep of Vietnam’s history, the war against the Americans was a blip. For more than 2000 years, Vietnam’s main enemy has been China. In fact, the two countries fought their latest war only 20 years ago, along their border. Many Americans didn’t even hear about it.
“To survive,” says Ngoc, “we have always after the wars with China to make peace and to forget the hardships of the war, to be able to live in peace with our giants.” He says the country’s applied the same lesson to the United States.
And finally, Ngoc says, the Vietnamese can embrace Americans now because Uncle Ho told them to. That’s what many Vietnamese call the father of their modern nation, Ho Chi Minh. Ho led the country to triumph: first they kicked out the French colonizers, then they humiliated the United States. But many Vietnamese will tell you that even during the war, Ho said they shouldn’t blame the American people for causing their suffering. They should blame America’s leaders.
As is evident everywhere, history can be used for the benefit of civilization and it can be abused to the detriment of many. Today, Vietnamese school kids giggle at the mannequins shackled in the old cells; they glance at placards about the Vietnamese leaders who died there under the French colonialists. They look briefly at photos of American pilots who spent years there in chains. Two thirds of the Vietnamese population was born after the war ended. By the time they have children, many people will only dimly remember that Vietnam and America fought a war. The same is, no doubt, true of American kids. Who is to say if that’s a good or a bad thing?
I will go to Vietnam. I really want to see this country for myself. I want to meet its people on their own turf and in their own words. It is a small part of my own soul searching. It is a small part of understanding myself. It may help me with my perspective. I hope that some of their heart and compassion and pity rub off on me.
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ANN’S MUSINGS – Memento mori
I was at a memorial service the other day for a very great and kind man who died unexpectedly while fully and deeply engaged in life.
I was reminded of this 5th century fresco I have seen several times at the Benedictine monastery of Sacro Speco (Sacred Cave) in Subiaco, Italy. This ancient painting shows death on horseback, stamping on people of all ages and brandishing a sword against those alive.
What shocked me when I first saw that fresco and what shocked me again upon learning of this death and so many others is that life (unlike light bulbs) does not come with a guaranteed life span. All we can do is live the all the days of our years deeply and abundantly.
Joe certainly did.
Here is an excerpt from a tribute written by a colleague.
“As a scholar of great precision and subtlety, Joe knew that there are no simple answers to anything. Yet he was also a man of strong ideals and principles, and he knew from his study of world religions how indispensible icons and images are. In that same introduction [to a volume of papers from a conference on the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, he and his wife wrote: ‘Our human world is a world shaped by symbols, by images. We are bound to select from and simplify the infinite complexity of what we perceive. Somehow we much choose and act, must decide what to value and strive for, what to fear and guard against. For what can be quantified, we may have recourse to computers and their algorithms to enable us to select, simplify and act. For what is humanly meaningful, individually and collectively, for what is imbued with feeling and integral to who and what we know or imagine ourselves to be, we resort to more open, multivalent and suggestive symbolism, to images.”
It is my humble hope that Classical Pursuits gives people access to the world of symbols and images from whence we derive meaning.
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TRAVEL PURSUITS – Reading paintings with Sean Forester: the artist as critic
Some of you will have travelled with Sean Forester on a Travel Pursuit in one or another region of Italy. Others of you will have participated in one of his seminars at Toronto Pursuits. All who have encountered Sean will know that he is a passionate about classical painting and has an extraordinary gift in helping us see from the point of view of an artist. Sean a classically trained painter and recently relocated from Florence to the Bay Area of San Francisco where he has opened a painting school. He is also exceptionally well-read in the classics and more than musically literate.
Sean and I have been kicking around a number of trip possibilities for next year or two. We welcome your guidance. The information below is schematic but should be enough to give you a rough idea of the possibilities. While the emphasis would be on art, we would pair related literature with each trip and take advantage of the wonderful musical offerings as they are available, like the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the new Mariinski Theatre in St. Petersburg.
Kindly reply to this blog post or send me a personal email, telling us if any of these trips strike your fancy. We welcome suggested modifications or entirely different trip ideas. ann.kirkland@classicalpursuits.com.
(You can enlarge the images below by double clicking on each.)
Belle Epoque Paris
Death of Marat, by David
Mrs. Frederick R. Leyland (detail), by Whistler
Nineteenth Century Paris is one of the pinacles of Western art. From classicism and romanticism to realism, impressionism and art nouveau, Paris was the center of European culture. The 19th Century was a time of tumult and change, and Paris was the centre where cultures and ideas collided to gave birth to the modern world. We will look at some of the great French painters, sculptors, and writers of the time. We will also focus on Americans in Paris such as Whistler, Sargent, Cassat, and Saint-Gaudens.
Possible texts:
Short stories by Maupassant, Flaubert, Zola, or Balzac
Poetry and writings on art by Baudelaire
Journal of Delacroix, letters by Degas and Van Gogh
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough
Itinerary: Sunday to Saturday
Day 1: Neoclassicism Louvre – visit 1, free afternoon
Day 2: Romanticism Louvre – visit 2 (or Delacroix museum), seminar on Delacroix, Baudelaire
Day 3: Realism 1 Orsay – visit 1, seminar on French short stories
Day 4: Realism 2 Petit Palais, Rodin’s house museum, free afternoon
Day 5: Impressionism Monet’s museums, seminar on Degas, Van Gogh
Day 6: Art Neaveau, Modernism Orsay- visit 2, Montemartre
Day 7: Review. Walking tour of Americans in Paris or trip to Giverny with Sean offering a painting demo
Baroque Rome
Pluto & Proserpina (detail) by Bernini
The Entombment of Christ, by Caravaggio
Rome is the eternal city. While every epoch has left its mark, Rome is perhaps best defined by the Baroque. The city overflows with sculpture and grand architecture: paintings by Caravaggio, sculptures by Bernini, churches by Bramante and Borromini. We will focus on Rome in the 17th Century, the center of the counter reformation Catholicism with its powerful, ornate art. We’ll begin with Michelangelo, a great precursor, and discuss the relationship between science and religion with reference to Galileo and St. Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits. We’ll close with a discussion of Baroque elements in modern Italy with the work of Fellini.
Possible texts:
Meditations of St. Ignatius
Writings of Gallilio, Bruno, Vico
Roman Baroque by Anthony Blunt
La Dolce Vita by Fellini
Itinerary: Sunday to Saturday
Day 1: Villa Borghese (Bernini, Caravaggio)
Day 2: Vatican museum, free afternoon
Day 3: Caravaggio Churches, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Canova cafe
Day 4: Borromini Churches, Seminar on St. Ignatius, Gallileo and Bruno
Day 5: Baroque Garden at Tivoli (Day trip)
Day 6: Capuchins crypt, Cortona at Il Gesu church, watch Fellini
Day 7: Final Seminar, Food walk with Katie Parla
Russian Realism
Portrait, by Kromskoy
A Religious Procession (detail) by Repin
Realism was a worldwide movement in the late 19th Century, from Dickens in England, to Twain in America, and Courbet in France. But it was perhaps in Russia where realism really blossomed. Many of us know of the novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. the plays of Chekhov, the stories of Turgenev. What is less known in the West are the remarkable paintings of Repin, Levitan, and Kromskoy. These Russian artists were friends with the writers and painted their portraits. They shared a passion for social justice and a love for their Russian homeland. Russian realism in art and literature makes for an exciting journey.
Possible texts:
Selected short works by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Chekhov
Itinerary
Day 1: Moscow 1 – City and Churches, (Seminar 1)
Day 2: Moscow 2 –Tretyakov Gallery
Day 3: Moscow 3—Tolstoy’s House day trip or Polenov House day trip (closer)
Day 4: Moscow 4—Chekhov’s House, Dostoevsky House (Seminar 2), Bolshoi Ballet
Day 5: Travel (4hrs by train), (Seminar 3)
Day 6: St. Petersburg 1– Hermitage
Day 7: St. Petersburg 2– Russian Museum
Day 8: St. Petersburg 3—City and Churches (Seminar 4)
Day 9: St. Petersburg 4—Peterhof palace, Kirov Ballet or Opera
Day 10: Final Review, (Seminar 5)
Dutch Golden Age
The Jewish Bride, by Rembrandt
The Milkmaid, by Vermeer
The 17th Century in Holland is called the Golden Age. This was a flowering of art and culture that accompanied the new wealth from Dutch trading. Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Hals are surrounded by many other fine artists. Dutch still life, landscape, and interiors are some the most beautiful ever painted. Holland was and remains a stable, tolerant and inclusive society and this is exemplified by the revolutionary philosophy of Spinoza. The Dutch are also practiced at science, design and urban planning. Our Classical Pursuits trip will center on the Golden Age, but as a finale will also consider the role of art and science in Holland today.
Possible texts:
Spinoza
Books on Rembrandt and Vermeer (Rembrandt: The Painter at Work, Girl with Pearl Earring)
Itinerary: Sunday to Saturday in Amsterdam
Day 1: Rijksmuseum 1 (Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals)
Day 2: Rembrandt’s House Museum, Seminar
Day 3: Day trip to the Hague for Vermeer
Day 4: Day trip to the Harleem for Hals
Day 5: Van Loon museum, canal tour, Seminar
Day 6: Rijksmuseum 2 (Still Life and Landscape)
Day 7: Day trip to either Kinderdijk (windmills) or Keukenhof (gardens)
Portrait of a Nation -Washington D.D.
Lincoln by George Peter Alexander Healy
Maga''s Daughter by Wyeth
For this Classical Pursuits trip we head to the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. to look at some great portrait paintings. We will consider the portrait as both personal and political. From old masters at the National Portrait Gallery to the presidental portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, from the American impressionists to Wyeth’s paintings of his family and friends, we will explore all aspects of portraiture. The best portraits capture character, and this holds in writing as well as art. In this spirit we will look at a portrait of Lincoln and his circle as we read Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Pulitzer winning book that is being made into a film with Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln.
Possible Text:
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Itinerary: Sunday to Wednesday in Washington DC
Day 1: National Gallery, seminar 1
Day 2: National Portrait Gallery, seminar 2
Day 3: Freer Gallery and Lincoln memorial other monuments (maybe in the evening)
Day 4: Day trip to Wyeth Museum in Brandywine
–OR–
Day 4: National Museum of American History, Final dinner
America’s Love Affair with Europe – New York City
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Champion Single Sculls by Eakins
As the United States grew and prospered in the 19th century, artists, writers, and the elite looked to European culture. Painters Eakins and Sargent, sculptors Saint-Guadens and Chester French, architects White and Hastings, were all connected to Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Industrials like Frick, Mellon and Rockefeller collected European art. American cities founded museums, and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art led the way as it purchased pictures by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Dyck, Titian. The romance with Europe was also personal as Americans travelled to Europe, met and married Europeans. This drama became the material for novelists like James and Wharton. At the same time, Americans were searching for their own identity in art and life. What would an American voice sound like? We’ll explore both American’s love affair with Europe and her struggle to become a new nation.
Possible Texts:
Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee
Itinerary: Sunday to Wednesday in New York City
Day 1: Met: European Art, Seminar 1
Day 2: Frick, visit to the AlgonquinHotel, Palace Hotel café, or Russian Tea Room, Seminar 2
Day 3: Met: American Painting and Sculpture, Opera or NY Philharmonic
Day 4: NY Public Library, Morgan Library, Final dinner
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TORONTO PURSUITS – Sound Advice from Rick Phillips
I hope you can join me for Toronto Pursuits 2012 in July for The Concerto: Studies in Contrast. We’ll be delving into the Brandenburg Concertos by Bach, the Clarinet Concerto by Mozart, and many others as we follow the development of the concerto through the centuries.
Why did it change and how did it reflect society at the time? How does it relate today? A variety of concertos for different solo instruments will be featured, all from famous recordings by legendary soloists, orchestras and conductors.
Have a listen here to the last movement of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 by Bach – a textbook case of the Baroque Concerto, which is where we’ll start. Notice the constantly changing textures, instrumental make-ups, calls and answers, big group vs. small, etc.
It was these new effects that the composer and audiences loved, leading to the Classical Concerto, like the Mozart Clarinet Concerto. Now we’ve morphed into the solo concerto – for one instrument against the orchestra, but like all Mozart, notice the operatic traits – like an opera aria, with drama and lyricism, passion, conflict and reconciliation, and the virtuosity of the clarinet soloist. As we move into the 19th C., the concerto’s trait of the one v. the many grows into the Romantic hero notion – the outsider v. the conformed, the wanderer, the outcast seeking redemption, as well as the dazzling vehicle for great virtuosos, like Paganini, Liszt and Chopin.
The Rachmaninoff No. 3 is reputedly the most difficult piano concerto. (I have problems with these claims – name one that is easy!!) Composed by one of the greatest pianists in history, it shows the piano (and pianist) off in a brilliant light. As Rachmaninoff claimed, “I want to write music that is indigenous to the instrument.”
The origins of the word “concerto” are unclear. Some believe it to derive from the Latin word “concertare” meaning to argue or contend. Others believe it stems from the Latin word “conserere,” or to unite. I like to think that it derives from both, because both elements are in all concertos – to contend AND to unite. In the simplest terms, a concerto is a musical composition intended to display the capabilities of a musical instrument through the skill and artistry of a talented musician. But it is so much more! A showpiece for dexterity, display, dazzle and delight – an example of mental concentration, physical endurance, a battle between a solitary musical hero and a full orchestra, with victory as the result. Contention and agreement, competition and triumph, rivalry and reconciliation – the concerto is Life itself.
As with all my Toronto Pursuits sessions, l’m looking forward to the usual stimulating discussions, questions and points of view. Always an ear-opening learning experience!!
I will also be giving an afternoon talk on Tuesday, July 17 on the concept of leadership as realized by watching a variety of conductors. The styles have changed over the years but why?? And, on Thursday evening, July 19, I will be giving the pre-concert talk before the performance by the Seoul Spring Festival Ensemble as part of the Toronto Summer Music Festival. I will talk about French Chamber Music.
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ON THE ROAD WITH ANN – Tiptoe through the tulips
Not one of Flora’s brilliant race
A form more perfect can display;
Art could not feign more simple grace
Nor Nature take a line away.
- James Montgomery, On Planting a Tulip-Root
Everybody thinks that tulips come from Holland. Actually, Tulips are native to Central Asia and Turkey. In the 16th Century they were brought to Holland from Turkey, and quickly became widely popular. Today Tulips are cultivated in Holland in great numbers and in huge fields. Dutch bulbs, including tulips and daffodils, are exported all around the world so people think that it’s originated from there as well. In fact many cultivated varieties were widely grown in Turkey long before they were introduced to European gardens.
The botanical name for tulips, Tulipa, is derived from the Turkish word “tulbend” or “turban”, which the flower resembles. It’s considered as the King of Bulbs.
In the 17th century the overgrown interest and high popularity of Tulips brought a sort of “Tulipmania” in Holland. Especially in 1637, bulbs were highly praised and prices went up day by day reaching extraordinary numbers. Bulbs were sold by weight, usually while they were still in the ground. Some examples could cost more than a house. The Dutch government unsuccessfully tried to outlaw this commerce but couldn’t do anything to stop it, the trade was all about access and demand. But the end of the game came quickly; over-supply led to lower prices and dealers went bankrupt and many people lost their savings because of the trade, and the tulip market crashed.
I was lucky enough to be in the Netherlands recently during tulip season. I did know, from an earlier trip to Turkey, that tulips were brought to the Netherlands from Turkey. But I had no idea of the variety. Upright and demure to wanton and wild, and every colour and combination imaginable, I hope you enjoy these photos.
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ON THE ROAD WITH ANN – Take your soul for a stroll this October.
Los amigos buenos días,
I was sorry to learn that one of our twelve travellers to walk the last hundred
miles of the Camino de Santiago this October has had to cancel. TAKING YOUR SOUL FOR A STROLL: A hundred miles on the Camino de Santiago.
I would now like to open that vacancy to one of you.
The Camino is the crown jewel of European walking trails and is an ancient
pilgrimage route through exquisite and varied landsapces of Northen Spain.
I walked 500 miles of the Camino on my own in 2010. Some of you read My
Camino Chronicle.
One of the lasting lessons I brought home with me is how vital walking has
become for me – both the sheer pleasure of moving through space on my own steam and at my own pace and the wonderful way walking helps me to relect and to ponder.
I now look forward to sharing the most beautiful part of it with a small group
fellow travellers. We will enjoy the beauty of the varied landscape and undergo
demands on our bodies but wiithout the rigours of carrying our own packs or
staying in crowded accommodation. And we will wind down at the end of each day
over good food and wine and shared experiences.
Henry David Thoreau knew the wisdom of walking.
“My desire for knowledge is intermittent; but my desire to bathe my head in
atmospheres unknown to my feet is perennial and constant.”
And here is what Phil Cousineau has to say about that it means to be a pilgrim.
“The pilgrim is a poetic traveler, one who believes that there is poetry on the
road, at the heart of everything.”
Persons considering the Camino always have lots of questions, mainly about the
level of fitness required. I am happy to talk to any of you who wish to know
more. ann.kirland@classicalpursuits.com.
Ven con nosotros,
Ann
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TODAY IN LITERATURE – Vanishing Worlds
“It’s in the nature of things that whole worlds disappear,” writes the poet Robert Hass in the foreword to Jimmye Hillman’s insightful memoir Hogs, Mules and Yellow Dogs: Growing Up on a Mississippi Subsistence Farm . “Their vanishings, more often than not, go unrecorded or pass into myth, just as they slip from the memory of the living.”
I met Jimmye in the spring of 2008 when he took part in our second Flannery O’Connor trip to Savannah. Jimmye was one of two bona fide southerners on that trip, and both provided deep insights into a semi-alien world that required some cultural translation to help us better understand. This former head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at University of Arizona also told hair-raising tales over meals of his early childhood in rural Mississippi. Now he has put these collected memories to paper. I invited a member of my Great Books reading group, a fellow southerner, to read Jimmye’s memoir.
Here are Anne Farquharson’s reflections.
Jimmye Hillman is offering the reader an authentic entry into the rural Mississippi culture in which he grew up in the 20s and 30s and which he now recalls in his 88th year. The first story opens a window on the relationship of the Hillman family with the feral hogs living in the woods and swamps of the surrounding countryside. These animals are the basis for the family’s survival, and the young boy is excited to join the grown men in chasing down a hog to take back to the smoke house, even as he is imagining what is going on in the head of the hunted hog. It is then no surprise when in another story young Jimmye masters the art of humoring a stubborn mule. The reference to yellow dogs in the title takes us on a different path; yellow dogs are not animals but stubborn humans who would “rather vote for a yellow dog than a Republican.”
An intriguing aspect of this book is the attention to detail on a wide range of subjects. When you have finished the reading, you will know how to slaughter and butcher a hog, to make southern biscuits, to operate an aviary, to send a firecracker 100 feet into the air with a slingshot, to launch and run a campaign for the senate in the Deep South. Also included is a 12-page dictionary of words and terms used locally but not widely understood outside the area, which, along with the evocative photographs, brings to life the inhabitants and culture of Hillman’s remembered landscape.
Perhaps the most lasting impression is an insight into what personal and environmental interactions exert the strongest force in shaping a young person’s view of the world. Certainly the extreme poverty, isolation and ignorance of the outside world played a role in young Jimmye’s development, and the sense of family and closeness to the land are front and centre in his life, but what appears to have moved his heart to write this book is the memory of kindness, decency and a striving for justice that was imprinted on the boy by his parents, grandparents and the black lady who was hired as household help and who guided him gently through his adolescence.
Jimmye Hillman: Hogs, Mules and Yellow Dogs: Growing Up on a Mississippi Subsistence Farm
267pp. 41b/w photos
Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2012
ISBN 978-0-8165-2991-9 $19.75
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ON THE ROAD WITH ANN – Who said, “A picture is worth a thousand words”?
I don’t know about you, but I was surprised to find that that commonplace expression originates with Napoleon Bonaparte. It refers to the notion that a complex idea can be conveyed with just a single still image. It also aptly characterizes one of the main goals of visualization, namely making it possible to absorb large amounts of data quickly.
But that idea is behind our trip photo contest. Here are the winners from the two most recent trips, Confounded & Bewitched: The Strange Rise of Modern India and Mystery & Manners in Savannah: Selected works of Flannery O’Connor.
Congratulations to the winners and warm thanks to all those who made submissions.
It was difficult for the judges to select a winning image from the trip to India, both because there were so many fabulous photos submitted by many people and because the country is so rich that it is almost impossible to take a bad photo.
We have therefore settled on a single first, second and third prize plus three honourable mentions. They are all fabulous photos and it was not easy for the judges to decide.
FIRST PRIZE Ashish Khurana – Delhi, India
Laundry day in village near Varanasi
SECOND PRIZE Nancy Davis – Sooke, BC
The colours of India - from the source
THIRD PRIZE Michael Kirkland – Toronto, ON
A quiet moment in rare monochromatic palette
HONOURABLE MENTION – to Nancy Davis, Michael Kirkland and Ashish Khurana.
Threshold between public and private space
Purification immersion in Ganges River
Magical moment of sunrise on the Ganges
For Mystery & Manners in Savannah, the judges chose this image submitted by Christine Croucher. This image needs a little background. It is a barn on the property of Andalusia, the farm where Flannery O’Connor spent her final years and the setting for the final scene of “Good Country People.” Here is an excerpt from the text leading up to the entry into the barn. You can read the entire story here.
“Ain’t there somewheres we can sit down sometime?” he murmured, his voice softening toward the end of the sentence.
“In that barn” she said.
They made for it rapidly as if it might slide away like a train. It was a large two-story barn, cool and dark inside. the boy pointed up the ladder that led into the loft and said, “It’s too bad we can’t go up there.”
“Why can’t we?” she asked.
“Yer leg,” he said reverently.
The girl gave him a contemptuous look and putting both hands on the ladder, she climbed it while he stood below, apparently awestruck. She pulled herself expertly through the opening and then looked down at him and said, “Well, come on if you’re coming,” and he began to climb the ladder, awkwardly bringing the suitcase with him.
- Barn at Andalusia featured in “Good Country People”
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TRAVEL PURSUITS – A gentleman on the Mekong River
A chance encounter (at a local meeting of Camino aficianados) resulted in an extended conversation about the ways and means and the whys of travel. David Levin has been a serious and life-long traveller. When he learned that Classical Pursuits will be going to Vietnam and Cambodia this fall, his eyes lit up and he went into an extended rapture. I invited David to share with you some of what he told me.
***
Our boat - the Pandaw Mekong
There is something perfect about a cabin on a gorgeous teak boat headed up the Mekong River to Angkor Watt. Forget the image of a creaky, leaky riverboat. I’m talking about something out of Somerset Maugham. Read The Gentleman in the Parlour, Maugham’s account of his journey across South East Asia in the early 20th century. ”It is great to shake off the trammels of the world and public opinion…and become the creature of the moment…and to be known by no other title than ‘The Gentleman in the Parlour’.”
Stateroom on the Pandaw Mekong
The boat alone is worth the trip. Walking barefoot along the shiny exterior corridor to my cleverly designed, outside, windowed cabin with private loo and shower, I sort of wanted to apologize for feeling smug. With front and rear open decks, paneled dining room, brass railings, and smooth Mekong water, this river trip has remained with me forever.
I began my travel in Hanoi. I have seen Beijing, Tokyo, and Kuala Lumpur and Hanoi is like no other city in the Far East. A kaleidoscope of colonial architecture; a fantastic mix of French and Eastern food (perfect baguettes and fragrant pho;) rivers of bicycles; stunning tea houses; a vibrant and open street culture with music, art and craft; breathtaking elemental wet markets; and the least xenophobic people I’ve ever met. It whets your appetite for the rest of the country. And cruising up the Mekong River gives you the perfect opportunity to explore another world.
Mekong River
At first I was a bit concerned about spending multiple days on the river. But it never worked out that way. Think of the Mekong as a giant, water-based playing field where your boat feels more like a personal floating carpet. With three excellent meals you slow down to the pace of the river. Each day brings new distractions. Sparkling fishing villages; jaw dropping scenery so green it hurts your eyes; local boats doing every conceivable business from fishing to floating markets to heavy industrial haulage. You will get many scheduled stops, each totally different. After a while I surprised myself and devoted time each day to doing nothing–simply clearing my mind of clutter. It worked.
I had read so much about Vietnam, mainly colored by the Vietnam War. But the reality defied all preconceptions and remained dreamlike. For geography, imagine North Vietnam as the Swiss Alps in a tropical jungle. For world view, Vietnam is one of the world’s great paradoxes. A thousand years of literature, art, music and religion. Millennia of traumatic interaction with Asian neighbors and invasions from nations literally at the other end of the earth. And decades of colonization leaving indelible marks (think irresistible Parisian baking on almost every corner.)
If you are concerned (as a Westerner) about feeling unwelcome in Vietnam, your concerns are totally unfounded. The essence of Vietnam is fierce independence based in Buddhism and Taoism. These folk have successfully resisted thousands of years of trauma and when you meet them today you find an Asian Tiger with serenity. Vietnam is different. An openness that shines through and this is one reason I wanted to visit. In fact every visitor I met was totally enchanted with the place.
That’s not to say my Vietnam trip was without suggestions. This was a solo trip. I would have appreciated a well connected and knowledgeable guide. Local boatmen are fine but a deeper understanding of the country’s literature and culture is essential. I would love to have trekked with convivial and curious people into those local villages, rice paddies and markets; and explored the famous Viet Cong tunnels and talked to the local governing Councils. This would have added immeasurably to my experience.
Next time.
David Levin, Toronto
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TRAVEL PURSUITS – Why a new book for Vietnam?
Author of Headmaster's Wager
Here was the headline in the book review section of the Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper that caused me to stop and take notice. “Vincent Lam’s first novel, about Vietnam, has makings of a masterpiece.”
Vincent Lam is an emergency physician Toronto who also writes – very well. His first book Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures won the prestigious Giller Prize and has been adapted for television on HBO Canada.
Now, from this internationally acclaimed, and bestselling author, the son of Chinese expatriate émigrés from Vietnam, comes a superbly crafted, highly suspenseful, and deeply affecting novel set against the turmoil of the Vietnam War.
It was hearing the real-life stories of his parents and grandparents as a child growing up in Nepean, Ontario, – and simultaneously knowing that the community they described had vanished forever – that first inspired Lam to render them in fiction. He felt the need even more strongly as he read through all the standard English-language novels of the war.
“In a sense they added to the allure of the subject because I knew there was a whole other perspective,” Lam says, ticking off the usual suspects – Graham Greene, Tim O’Brien, Marguerite Duras. “I knew that in the midst of their conversation was another voice.”
In The Headmaster’s Wager, Lam puts that voice in the mouth of Percival Chen, a wealthy, somewhat dissolute Chinese immigrant whose ambition to remain distant from the turmoil of his adopted country is rewarded by total immersion in its ultimate apocalypse. It departs from the norm not only in its fully realized Asian perspective, but also in its steady focus on the personal lies of ordinary people caught in the war.
Blessed with intriguingly flawed characters moving through a richly drawn historical and physical landscape, The Headmaster’s Wager is a riveting story of love, betrayal and sacrifice.
Here is a link to recent reviews.
You can view a short video of Vincent Lam talking about this book.
I have the sense that Lam’s book will imaginatively capture Vietnam at a tumultuous time not unlike Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children sweep of India at the time of Partition.
We will also use Understanding Vietnam by Neil I. Jamieson as valuable background and discuss several short stories from Vietnam: A Traveler’s Literary Companion, by Vietnamese writers living in Vietnam and abroad.
If you are interested in discussing Dr. Lam’s book and the other readings with us in Hanoi, Saigon and cruising up the Mekong River on a brass and teak river boat, here is further information. Vietnam Voices: A Balanced Opposition.
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TRAVEL PURSUITS – So why don’t the Vietnamese hate the Americans?
Just last night, during intermission at a concert, I overheard a conversation between two people, one asking the other if she planned to join the fall Classical Pursuits trip Vietnam Voices: A Balanced Opposition. Over the din, I heard her response: “Oh, no, I could never go to Vietnam. I am an American.”
Vietnam has great appeal as a travel destination for Canadians, but for Americans it sometimes carries a heavy burden of sadness and guilt.
I am speaking here as an American. I was born in the United States, and am now a dual citizen, having lived in Canada longer than I did in the US. But my psyche has been profoundly shaped by what we call the Vietnam War. (The Vietnamese, of course, call it ‘The American War.) It was the defining event of an entire generation of Americans. And now, when Americans talk about the war in Iraq, the phrase, ‘Another Vietnam’ is uttered again and again.
This is one of the reasons that I was fascinated by the idea of visiting Vietnam. No other country in the world figured so decisively in life as I knew it growing up as an American.
In America, Vietnam is the war we lost, and probably never should have fought. It cost both Americans and Vietnamese thousands of lives and untold suffering.
In his radio essay for National Public Media, “Revisiting Vietnam: History and Reconciliation,” here is what investigative journalist Daniel Zwerdling has to say. (excerpts)
A lot of Americans who visit Vietnam shake their heads at some point and say to themselves, wait a minute. No matter how you felt about the war, whether you supported it, or opposed it, or fought in it, you can’t escape the basic facts: the Communist-led army killed 58,000 American troops. The US military and their South Vietnamese allies killed roughly a million soldiers and civilians in their own country. American warplanes destroyed vast areas of Vietnam with bombs and pesticides and fire. Why don’t the Vietnamese hate Americans?
“When I meet Americans it is the first question they ask me,” says Huu Ngoc, one of the best-known scholars in Vietnam. He’s taken us to a sacred site in Hanoi to explain his answers to the question. The Vietnamese call it the one-pillar pagoda. It rises on one pillar out of a murky pond that’s covered with purple lotus flowers. Smoke keeps twirling around it, from all the incense sticks that Buddhist pilgrims light at the altar. Huu says this pagoda reflects the first reason why Vietnamese have forgiven Americans.
“I think that until now, for many Americans, Vietnam is a synonym for war,” Ngoc says. “But the true face of Vietnam is not war. Buddhism for the Vietnamese means the heart and compassion and pity. It is our essential feature.”
Of course, many religions preach forgiveness. But Ngoc says there’s another explanation that’s more pragmatic. When you look at the whole sweep of Vietnam’s history, the war against the Americans was a blip. For more than 2000 years, Vietnam’s main enemy has been China. In fact, the two countries fought their latest war only 20 years ago, along their border. Many Americans didn’t even hear about it.
“To survive,” says Ngoc, “we have always after the wars with China to make peace and to forget the hardships of the war, to be able to live in peace with our giants.” He says the country’s applied the same lesson to the United States.
And finally, Ngoc says, the Vietnamese can embrace Americans now because Uncle Ho told them to. That’s what many Vietnamese call the father of their modern nation, Ho Chi Minh. Ho led the country to triumph: first they kicked out the French colonizers, then they humiliated the United States. But many Vietnamese will tell you that even during the war, Ho said they shouldn’t blame the American people for causing their suffering. They should blame America’s leaders.
As is evident everywhere, history can be used for the benefit of civilization and it can be abused to the detriment of many. Today, Vietnamese school kids giggle at the mannequins shackled in the old cells; they glance at placards about the Vietnamese leaders who died there under the French colonialists. They look briefly at photos of American pilots who spent years there in chains. Two thirds of the Vietnamese population was born after the war ended. By the time they have children, many people will only dimly remember that Vietnam and America fought a war. The same is, no doubt, true of American kids. Who is to say if that’s a good or a bad thing?
I will go to Vietnam. I really want to see this country for myself. I want to meet its people on their own turf and in their own words. It is a small part of my own soul searching. It is a small part of understanding myself. It may help me with my perspective. I hope that some of their heart and compassion and pity rub off on me.
