Daily Thoughts 1/1/2010

Statue of the The Roman Poet, Ovid

Daily Thoughts 1/1/2010

I have been watching I Claudius, the BBC production of Robert Grave's book. It is worth reading Robert Graves book The reader over your shoulder : a handbook for writers of English prose. His books on classical mythology are also quite excellent.

The BBC production of I Claudius is wonderful to watch. I like the costumes and the settings. I find it very languid and entertaining. The acting is excellent. The story is quite dark and intriguing. It is the remastered dvd series put out by Image entertainment. There are a dozen episodes.

The actor who I immediately recognized was a young Patrick Stewart with hair. He plays a Roman solider. Patrick Stewart started out as a stage actor before he was a screen star. I rather liked seeing him in this production. Patrick Stewart's most famous role is as Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek.

The story is excellent. I watched four of the episodes today and did not do much else. I am waiting to see the portion on Caligula who is played by John Hurt. It was a nice break from reading. The story is very sophisticated: it is full of poisonings, exiles, Roman oratory, and Roman history. You get to see Rome in all its cruelty and its glory. So far I have seen the rise of Tiberius and the Death of August Caesar.

It has been a pleasant way to spend the new year. Happy New Year to all of you.

The Reader Over Your Shoulder A Handbook For Writers of English Prose-- Robert Graves And Alan Hodges

I finished reading, The Reader Over Your Shoulder, A Handbook for Writers of Enlgish Prose by Robert Graves and Alan Hodges. Robert Graves is the author of I, Claudius and The White Goddess. The writing in this book is quite high caliber.

The first section is a set of rules on how to write. It describes how to clarify the basics so you know to answer what was in grammar school called, the five w's who, what, where, when, and how. It also teaches you how to write without ambiguity, eliminate logical weaknesses, and create understandable prose.

In addition the use of metaphor, style, and elegance in writing is covered. Examples of bad writing are given and corrected. Also bureaucratese, jargon, and professional language is addressed. It talks about how to translate complex thoughts into clear language.

The second part is where I got overwhelmed. This section analyzes rhetoric and logic in writing. It takes apart paragraphs written by many famous people and rewrites them so they are more logical and clear. For example, sections of Why Freedom Matters by Norman Angell, Bishop Chichester; A paragraph from Christianity and World Order and many other famous writings are analyzed. They are not just analyzed. Each sentence in a paragraph is dissected for consistency, logic, grammar, and style.

This would be fairly advanced rhetorical teaching for people who already had an excellent grasp of the english language. At points it was a bit overwhelming in the information being provided. There are examples of logical weakness, mispunctuation, appropriate sequence of ideas, mismatching metaphor, self-evident statement, false contrast, circumlocution, and other fairly detailed criticisms of language use. On Pp. 177-180 they give 41 rules for appropriate use of language.

If you are interested in reading a complex book on advanced written rhetoric; this book is for you. It is at points quite hard to follow. I did enjoy reading the first part immensely. However, I was a bit overwhelmed with the second half of the book. The book is slow going with lots of information in each page. It is not the kind of book you can read in one sitting. The language is also very proper, clear, old fashioned, and very British. The edition I read is the second edition,
c 1979.

I made a rather interesting faux pas. This book is no longer in print. It was suggested by one of my blog readers. It is available in a combined edition as The Long Weekend And The Reader Over Your Shoulder. There are used copies of this. I think this is the kind of book which you should be able to find easily in your public library; most likely as an interlibrary loan, but not in a bookstore.

I remember reading the Golden Ass of Apuleius and The Twelve Caesars translated by Robert Graves when I was younger. He truly is a distinguished writer.

Thoughts for Today

On Friday, May 9, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. , I will attending the Westchester Library Association conference. http://www.westchesterlibraryassociation.org/Registration.pdf

I plan on attending the sections:

A) May I please blow up this reference desk?

This session is already causing some interesting reactions and consternation at work. To say it mildly, my attending this session should be quite controversial. I think it is about social and cultural changes which are affecting reference. There might be a dose of 'multicultural' style thinking.

H) From dress casual to eye candy: Outfitting our libraries for online social networking.

This also should shake things up a bit. It might make me a bit on the sharp end of things at work as well. There is nothing quite like taking a little bit of risk. I am afraid, I can't stick my head in the sand this time. I might get blindsided.

In a way, I am looking forward to this. It will be a challenge to my way of thinking. I will be thinking on how to both refute and support the points being made. Also, with the social networking, much of it is very nonsensical. I am hoping that people use some common sense with this kind of thing.

Today was a busy day. I mostly made sure a lot of the things in reference were in order. I ordered some law books, made some suggestions for new law titles, checked the new books and other every day tasks.

I have been reading a little bit more of The Reader Over Your Shoulder by Robert Graves and Alan Hodge. Reading this book is like eating bread putting, it is slow to chew, and takes a long time to digest. I think I can handle about thirty to forty pages at a sitting. It will take a while for me to read this book.

I tried reading Harald by David Friedman, but I could not get into it. It is a middling medieval fantasy, not great not bad, but it just could not capture my attention.

I also have read a few pages of V.S. Naipaul, A Writer's People Ways of Looking and Feeling which so far is enjoyable reading. It is a memoir of Naipaul's life as a writer. Maybe I am reading too much at once.