Thanks for saying that. I've been thinking also about 'revisiting' older
works - more and more I move between odd classics (like the Pliny) and
contemporary work. I remember reading Michel Serres on Lucretius - that he
treated Lucretius as current, argued with him, not as with a classical
author, but with someone who was here, now. That's also been my approach -
if you look for example, at Aristotle's Metaphysics, it's hardly dated at
all. The same obviously for any number of Buddhist sutras, the Upanishads.
So I find myself reading, say, Alexander Pope or Dana's Manual of Geology
as if they're current. Sometimes there are real surprises - I have an old
paleontology of Nova Scotia (Carboniferous Rocks and Fossil Floras of
Northern Nova Scotia, by W.. Bell, Ottawa, 1944) - and the flora is the
same, identical, to that found in the anthracite regions of Pennsylavania
where I was born - almost the identical biome. When you look at maps of
course, you can see the continuation. It's wonderful, a rereading of world
history through ancient geologies...
- Alan
On Sat, 19 Nov 2005, Ian MURRAY wrote:
I love the lists of "books I like" and as a matter of fact was referring to
one
of Alan's list that I printed out a few years ago this afternoon...
It is so pleasant to read about older books that maybe forgotten...
Ian
From: Alan Sondheim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Cyb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "WRYTING-L : Writing and Theory
across Disciplines" <WRYTING-L@LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA>
Subject: New - Reviews of books I like:
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 01:01:40 -0500 (EST)
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