New Tricks
Pain Spectrum - low red spikes
BM/RD Index - 10
Fuzz meter - 7
It has been an interesting few weeks over here. December in the city always means a mad rush of fun – parties and shopping and splurges galore. Add to that an influx of cultural events and the infectious boppiness of the holidays and you can bet that I will be alternately wired and tired. But I just wanted to let you all know that I have been taking the lessons I learned in D.C. to heart. For every day on, I have taken a day off. I have been pretty focused when I go out to do things, with the end result that I have actually managed to do quite a lot. I even managed to fit in some book-work again.
Of course, I am still learning here. Sometimes I do too much. But I have noticed that, by not pushing myself to the point of actual collapse, I am finally starting to get stronger. I know that most of you out there are hitting your head with a groan right about now – I can hear the “How many times did we tell you this?” being muttered from here. Well, hearing and listening are two different things, and doing is something else entirely. But I think I am finally graduating to level three. We are doing Hanukkah and the tree decorations this weekend (I don’t care what the other mutts do, I am not calling it Chrismukkah); next weekend is Xmas, which my mom hosts (think lots of people and loads of food); and then we are off to Washington State to visit with K’s family (anyone got suggestions the must-sees of Leavenworth or Seattle?) for the New Year. I will keep you posted as it goes.
But first, a little teaser: K and I are two thirds of the way through what is surely one of the most fantastic theatre experiences of my life – The Coast of Utopia, Tom Stoppard’s brilliant exploration of the ideas and lives of the “Romantic Exiles” – those men (and their wives) from the mid-century Russian leisure class who were foundations of the intelligentsia. The plays focus on Herzen, Bakunin, Belinsky and Turgenev. Now obviously, K and I are biased. These guys were the origins of our bread and butter for quite some time – our (Ukrainian) cat is named Trotsky, after all. But still. It’s Stoppard and it’s German Metaphysics (many of these men worshiped at the altar of Hegel) and it’s Revolution (1848) – what is there not to love? We just saw the second play, Shipwreck, last night, and my reactions are still too visceral. But I do have some discussion notes from the first play, Voyage. I haven’t had the time to really formulate them into something cohesive, but I thought it might be fun to put them up. Think of them as an opening salvo to discussion – I’d love to hear what others think.
On the perfection of Stoppard
The Coast of Utopia – such an apt name. Inspired by Herzen’s book, Towards the Other Shore, but more poignant. But then to study Russian history is to be a melancholic. Nothing was ever truly successful, although the aspect of success could always be glimpsed but never reached, making the failure all the more palpable. It reminds me of Virginia Wolfe, another writer who understood the awfulness of perceiving unattainable greatness.
Another Russian studies pastime is the “might have been”. In this case, the man to follow (Herzen) versus the man who led (Bakunin). Both believed in freedom, but for H it was individual freedom that was paramount; Bakunin, the madman of action, wholeheartedly believed in the sacrifice of the individual for the sake of the many. (Stoppard places a nice spin on this in Voyage; namely the sacrifice of many individuals for the sake of Bakunin. The guy was a sociopath. A really, really, charismatic one; he and Herzen were lifelong friends, but go and read what he preached. The man loved chaos and blood and himself in the lead.)
The pastime of ideas - the vacuum of expression that allowed the German meta-theologians such sway over these guys. Compare today - entertainment truly is the opiate of the masses - where does apathy exist most? In those parts of the world (America included) where people can barely eke out a means to survive, that are too often caught in the throws of violence, is it any wonder that the modern descendents of Bakunin, who preached that action was sacrosanct and that the means ARE the end, grab hold?
The danger of Hegel - Stoppard’s great quote (paraphrase) for Herzen that Hegel had the right theory upside-down: it is not that people storm the battlements because the historical cycle of the universal order dictates that change is upon us - change is upon us because the people are rising up and storming the gates. Of course – that makes much better sense. Yet the seduction of Hegel’s version should not be overlooked. Nor the danger of what it implies.
Stoppard’s genius or semi-genius - the ginger cat. In the play, Herzen talks about a giant Ginger Cat (a man in costume) at one of the balls he was at. He then compares life to the Ginger Cat and man to a mouse. The cat is a cat; it will always go after the mouse because that is what it does. It is up to the mouse (an individual) to decide how it will act when the cat grabs hold of it. I am not doing justice to the idea or to Stoppard’s description, but trust me – it was an extremely nice turn. I do not know if Herzen actually ever discussed a giant ginger cat as a metaphor for life and history or if it was just Stoppard. But to think of a giant cat in Russian literature is to think of Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita. >So either Bulgakov was very well read (Herzen not really being au currant in Soviet Russia) and was making another great inside joke, or, Stoppard is a freaking genius by referencing B in his play. Beautiful and pitch perfect note of surrealism for a time period when, as Belinsky puts it, a man’s worth is judged by the amount of souls he owns.
Oh – the acting is superb and the set design is wonderful. If anyone has seen it, please feel free to post your thoughts – how do you think the actors are holding up? There's more on the production, incl. complete cast & crew, at www.coastofutopia.org
Continue...
BM/RD Index - 10
Fuzz meter - 7
It has been an interesting few weeks over here. December in the city always means a mad rush of fun – parties and shopping and splurges galore. Add to that an influx of cultural events and the infectious boppiness of the holidays and you can bet that I will be alternately wired and tired. But I just wanted to let you all know that I have been taking the lessons I learned in D.C. to heart. For every day on, I have taken a day off. I have been pretty focused when I go out to do things, with the end result that I have actually managed to do quite a lot. I even managed to fit in some book-work again.
Of course, I am still learning here. Sometimes I do too much. But I have noticed that, by not pushing myself to the point of actual collapse, I am finally starting to get stronger. I know that most of you out there are hitting your head with a groan right about now – I can hear the “How many times did we tell you this?” being muttered from here. Well, hearing and listening are two different things, and doing is something else entirely. But I think I am finally graduating to level three. We are doing Hanukkah and the tree decorations this weekend (I don’t care what the other mutts do, I am not calling it Chrismukkah); next weekend is Xmas, which my mom hosts (think lots of people and loads of food); and then we are off to Washington State to visit with K’s family (anyone got suggestions the must-sees of Leavenworth or Seattle?) for the New Year. I will keep you posted as it goes.
But first, a little teaser: K and I are two thirds of the way through what is surely one of the most fantastic theatre experiences of my life – The Coast of Utopia, Tom Stoppard’s brilliant exploration of the ideas and lives of the “Romantic Exiles” – those men (and their wives) from the mid-century Russian leisure class who were foundations of the intelligentsia. The plays focus on Herzen, Bakunin, Belinsky and Turgenev. Now obviously, K and I are biased. These guys were the origins of our bread and butter for quite some time – our (Ukrainian) cat is named Trotsky, after all. But still. It’s Stoppard and it’s German Metaphysics (many of these men worshiped at the altar of Hegel) and it’s Revolution (1848) – what is there not to love? We just saw the second play, Shipwreck, last night, and my reactions are still too visceral. But I do have some discussion notes from the first play, Voyage. I haven’t had the time to really formulate them into something cohesive, but I thought it might be fun to put them up. Think of them as an opening salvo to discussion – I’d love to hear what others think.
On the perfection of Stoppard
The Coast of Utopia – such an apt name. Inspired by Herzen’s book, Towards the Other Shore, but more poignant. But then to study Russian history is to be a melancholic. Nothing was ever truly successful, although the aspect of success could always be glimpsed but never reached, making the failure all the more palpable. It reminds me of Virginia Wolfe, another writer who understood the awfulness of perceiving unattainable greatness.Another Russian studies pastime is the “might have been”. In this case, the man to follow (Herzen) versus the man who led (Bakunin). Both believed in freedom, but for H it was individual freedom that was paramount; Bakunin, the madman of action, wholeheartedly believed in the sacrifice of the individual for the sake of the many. (Stoppard places a nice spin on this in Voyage; namely the sacrifice of many individuals for the sake of Bakunin. The guy was a sociopath. A really, really, charismatic one; he and Herzen were lifelong friends, but go and read what he preached. The man loved chaos and blood and himself in the lead.)
The pastime of ideas - the vacuum of expression that allowed the German meta-theologians such sway over these guys. Compare today - entertainment truly is the opiate of the masses - where does apathy exist most? In those parts of the world (America included) where people can barely eke out a means to survive, that are too often caught in the throws of violence, is it any wonder that the modern descendents of Bakunin, who preached that action was sacrosanct and that the means ARE the end, grab hold?
The danger of Hegel - Stoppard’s great quote (paraphrase) for Herzen that Hegel had the right theory upside-down: it is not that people storm the battlements because the historical cycle of the universal order dictates that change is upon us - change is upon us because the people are rising up and storming the gates. Of course – that makes much better sense. Yet the seduction of Hegel’s version should not be overlooked. Nor the danger of what it implies.
Stoppard’s genius or semi-genius - the ginger cat. In the play, Herzen talks about a giant Ginger Cat (a man in costume) at one of the balls he was at. He then compares life to the Ginger Cat and man to a mouse. The cat is a cat; it will always go after the mouse because that is what it does. It is up to the mouse (an individual) to decide how it will act when the cat grabs hold of it. I am not doing justice to the idea or to Stoppard’s description, but trust me – it was an extremely nice turn. I do not know if Herzen actually ever discussed a giant ginger cat as a metaphor for life and history or if it was just Stoppard. But to think of a giant cat in Russian literature is to think of Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita. >So either Bulgakov was very well read (Herzen not really being au currant in Soviet Russia) and was making another great inside joke, or, Stoppard is a freaking genius by referencing B in his play. Beautiful and pitch perfect note of surrealism for a time period when, as Belinsky puts it, a man’s worth is judged by the amount of souls he owns.Oh – the acting is superb and the set design is wonderful. If anyone has seen it, please feel free to post your thoughts – how do you think the actors are holding up? There's more on the production, incl. complete cast & crew, at www.coastofutopia.org
Continue...
posted by KS at 10:36 AM
3 comments
