What I'm reading now ...

Crosbie Morrison: voice of nature by Graham Pizzey

Philip Crosbie Morrison was a photographer, musician, journalist and radio broadcaster with a zest for life and a passion for nature. He was active long before environmentalism was 'in vogue', campaigning for conservation and working in environmental education.

More than anything else, Morrison was able to inspire others to look at their world afresh. This spirit of wonder is Morrison's most important legacy.

- from front endflap

What I bought today ...

Actually, more like what I bought this week. A few purchases over the last few days ...

• Arnott, Peter D. An Introduction to the Greek Theatre, 1960
• Adelaide, Debra. Serpent dust, 1998
• Aristophanes. Lysistrata and Other Plays, 2003
• Euripides. The Complete Greek Tragedies: Euripides Vol 3, 1958
• Euripides. Medea and other plays, 1963
• Landesman, Peter. The Raven, 1998
• Lawler, Ray. The doll trilogy, 1985
• Moggach, Deborah. Tulip Fever, 2000
• Osbon, Diane K. (ed.) A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living, 1995
• Wietzel, Paul. The New Illustrated History Of The World: The Triumph Of The Greeks 800 B.C. - 321 B.C., 1969

Review: Nature and Selected Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Started 27 February, 2008

Finished 29 March, 2008

Larzer Ziff, the editor of this collection, credits Emerson (1803-82) with being the centre of the American literary tradition. Emerson came into a world where nature was something to be conquered. It was not valued because it did not have the 'storied associations' of the European landscape. In this view, which prevailed up to the 1830s, imagination was shaped by history - the remembered past of human events.

Emerson's writings elevated nature over history, claiming that 'American history must be the history of nature speaking through men, not of men shaping nature'. His philosophy became the single most powerful force in American intellectual life in the nineteenth century, influencing writers such as Herman Melville, Walt Whitman and Henry David Thoreau.

The fifteen essays collected here give us a comprehensive cross-section of those writings, covering a period of twenty-six years, from 1836 to 1862. Although I found reading these essays tough going, having to go back over many passages two or three times before fully comprehending them, they reward perseverance. Hidden among the difficult nineteenth-century language are many gems of wisdom, which is why Emerson is possilby one of the most quoted authors.

Emerson was a popular speaker as well as writer. Indeed, he began his career as a preacher, and many of the essays here were originally delivered as lectures after he resigned his post as preacher in 1831.

Apart from the title piece, Nature, Emerson's first published essay, there are a wide range of other subjects covered in this collection: History, Self-Reliance, The Over-soul, Fate, and Experience. There are also biographical discussions on Montaigne, Napolean and Thoreau.

Despite the archaic language and style, many of the ideas expressed by Emerson seem surprisingly modern, and would probably not be out of place if written by a contemporary writer.

The introduction by Ziff gives us an excellent description of Emerson's life and times, and there are suggestions for further reading if you want more detail.

Emerson's complete works span 12 volumes, but I would recommend this book as a great starting point for discovering his writing.

What I bought today ...

Quite a few this time around, so only listing their titles and authors ...

• Elton, G.R. Reformation Europe: 1517-1559
• Granta 58, Ambition
• Koestler, Arthur. The Act of Creation
• Meehan, Maurilia. Fury
• Moorehead, Alan. Cooper's Creek: the story of Burke and Wills
• Probert, Belinda. Working life
• Rafaello, Carboni. The Eureka Stockade

Not new titles by any means, but stuff that I still find very interesting.

What I'm reading now ...

Nature and selected essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Through his writing and his own personal philosophy, Ralph Waldo Emerson unburdened his young country of Europe's traditional sense of history and showed Americans how to be creators of their own circumstances. His mandate, which called for harmony with, rather than the domestication of, nature, and for reliance on individual integrity, rather than on materialistic institutions, is echoed in many of the great American philosophical and literary works of his time and ours, and has given an impetus to modern political and social activism."

- from back cover

Started 27 Feb 2008

What I bought today ...

So many selves by Gabrielle Carey

"... a person can find that he or she is composed, not of one singular fixed self, but of many selves ..."

In So many selves, Gabrielle Carey revisits some of the critical moments that shaped and defined her life

-from front endflap

Review: The Theban Plays by Sophocles

Classic Greek drama which tells of the tragedy of Oedipus and his family.


As foretold by Teiresius, a blind prophet, Oedipus unwittingly kills his own father, then marries his own mother, with whom he has four children.



The three plays in this book, King Oedipus, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone, show us what happens when Oedipus realises what he has done.


This harrowing tale, when read in the order above, forms a continuous narrative from Oedipus' birth, through to his tragic and horrifying act, his death, and then the consequences for his children.


I was surprised to learn though that this was not the order in which they were written. Sophocles (496-406 BC) wrote the last play, Antigone, first, in 442-441BC. This was followed by King Oedipus, the first of the trilogy in 429-420BC, and then Oedipus at Colonus in 401 BC which was released/performed in 401 BC, after the author's death.


There are some minor inconsistencies as a result of this non-sequential writing, but these do not detract from the impact of the drama.


Newcomers to Greek drama will find the introduction helpful, as this gives us a background on the origins and development of the dramatic form in Ancient Greece, a detailed analysis of each play, and the relevance of these texts to today's audience.


On this last note, I found one particular scene in Antigone very reminscent of recent events in Australian politics. Creon, brother-in-law to Oedipus and now the new king, stubbornly refuses to change his ruling on the burial of Oedipus' son, and the punishment for Antigone, who has defied this ruling. Despite indications that he may lose his family, his supporters, and his throne, Creon remains resolute.


I think the final words belong to Haemon, Creon's son:

"...good as it is to have infallible wisdom,
Since this is rarely found, the next best thing
Is to be willing to listen to wise advice."

If only John Howard had read this. Some things never change.