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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Older, and More Literary

After a lifetime devoted to ethical philosophy and political theory, I find the older I get the more I turn to literature for insightful ethics and narrative history for insightful politics.

2 comments:

Black guy from the future past said...

I'm only 22. Seems like I got a long way to go before I actually start to become interested in the stuff they demand I read in college. I jest. Have a good new year Dale.

Anonymous said...

Ezra Pound at 76

"From Italy, Idaho was too raw to face. I knew with Whitman that it might not work. We might end a populous Australia; loving sport, distraction, and our own hollowness. Not gambling on that I stayed put. And wanted the great issues too simple. A taste that came from odd books loved pigheadedly and well. Hatred betrayed me to ape it’s voice. An agony that ended with the world’s. Now, my joy is to splash around Venice in hip boots. Saying little. Old peasant women call me "maestro" and respect my moods. After reading to a clique, I cut off their applause, "Trouble is it’s not strictly true." And lock myself in silence. I who thought we could make everything new and honest, poets and critics, even politicians. What cruel vanity causes a man to cast his whole life in a cool Greek rage against the immortal, unchangeable darkness of stupidity?"

-Ezra Pound