In the Summer 'Neath the Arkansas Sunshine
Digest No. 10 - June 2024
On Commonplacing
Modernity’s existential crisis - a crisis of narration - is caused by the splitting of life and narrative, as summed up in the choice ‘live or tell.’ Life it seems, can no longer be narrated. In pre-modern times, life was anchored in narratives. In time as narration, there is not only Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday . . . but also Easter, Whitsun, Christmas - narrative points of reference [ . . . ] Life in late modernity is utterly naked. It lacks narrative imagination. Pieces of information cannot be tied together into a narrative. Things thus break free.
Byung-Chul Han, The Crisis of Narration, trans. Daniel Steuer (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2024), 27, 29.
Great Ideas: Truth, Custom, Being, Education
Like so many others, I’ve read Byung-Chul Han’s The Crisis of Narration recently and I’m fascinated by his argument. There are plenty of good, engaging essays in response to Han’s philosophical claims, so I won’t regurgitate them here. But I will say that folks should be paying attention to Han’s ideas. And taking their implications seriously.
On Reading & Researching
I’ve finished the Barsoom series from Edgar Rice Burroughs. I can see why it looms so large in the minds of folks like Ray Bradbury. As a complete story, it’s very good. And while Tarzan bored me, John Carter’s adventures never seemed to exhaust the possibilities of Barsoom. I really cannot recommend these novels enough. If I ever get to teach a literature class about Mars, which I hope to do someday, I’ll have to figure out just how many of these books would be required reading. The first three, for sure, but some of the later ones would be worth including in such a syllabus.
As I’m deep in Hemingway territory at this point, I’ve worked back through The Sun Also Rises, A Moveable Feast, and Islands in the Stream. I’ve also given Don Quixote a once, all as I try to bring my essay to a satisfactory conclusion. I have some possible homes for this project once it’s finished, but I will have to see how it comes together.
On Writing & Publishing
I’ve had a couple of essays declined this month, which has prompted some reworking on my end. Perhaps one of the hardest things I’ve encountered as a researcher is figuring out what to do with a piece once it is finished. Do I edit it and resubmit it somewhere else? Do I leave it alone and see if someone else wants it? Do I stow it away and give it more thought? There are a lot of options, especially when the “No thank you” emails are unspecific as to why a particular publication didn’t want it. This isn’t a complaint against publishers; they have more things to sift through than I can imagine. But it is a difficulty that my vocation requires that I overcome. For the pieces most recently returned to me, I’m leaning towards editing one before sending it somewhere, and leaving the other one alone and just sending it off again as-is. Or I may just toss one into the rubbish bin after seeing a very similar argument in a Twitter thread. Who knows what I’ll do?
On Traveling & Speaking
I started the month off with a conference of the Central Consortium of Classical Educators. A couple of local schools have partnered to put it together, and I was able to help with some small things in preparation. We read some fiction in small groups, and all attendees read Russell Kirk’s “The Moral Imagination” essay. I saw some familiar faces and met many new ones. I’m already looking forward to next Summer’s event.
My only travel this month was to Monroe, LA for the Jubilate Deo Summer Camp. My kids have come to really look forward to this, despite the blistering heat that seems to settle on Monroe in late June. This camp is what enabled me to finish my dissertation last Summer, as I spent the whole week editing and revising much of that work. Next month will be a return to busy travel schedules.
On Listening
My wife and I enjoyed a Hootie and the Blowfish concert at the end of May. Collective Soul and Edwin McCain also played, so it was a full blown 90s moment. The highlight for me was “Only Wanna Be With You,” which will come as no surprise to anyone who hung out with me from 1997-2000.