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Post by Maolsheachlann on Sept 18, 2017 12:42:31 GMT
Inconsistently, perhaps, I DO get excited about encyclopedias. When I was growing up, encyclopediae were amongst my favourite Christmas presents-- I mean single-volume encyclopedias, The Guinness Encyclopedia and the Hutchinson Encyclopedia.
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Post by cato on Sept 18, 2017 16:15:17 GMT
If inconsistency is not already a conservative principle then it ought to be. Cato locuta est.
I love big books with lists and pictures and which contain the answers to almost every question imaginable. They are confident, authorative and interesting.Everything post modernism isn't. You mightn't use them every day but it is comforting to know you have access to them if you need them.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Sept 22, 2017 15:13:01 GMT
Someone mentioned Francis Stuart's autobiographical Things to Live For in another thread. I was intrigued because Francis Stuart is a lesser-known Irish writer and because he seems to have been rather conservative. I took it off the shelf and browsed it on my afternoon coffee break. I wasn't terribly impressed by his style, which is rather overheated for my taste. I read most of a chapter in which he describes an infatuation with the story of St. Bernadette Soubirous and a passing (but intense) desire to be a Carthusian monk. For a while he lived alone in a hut, went to daily Mass, and read the lives of the saints. He was especially struck by St. Therese of Lisieux (predictably). A female friend and an actual Carthusian monk told him he was simply seeking mystical experience, rather than holiness. It seems to have worn off rather quickly and he seems to have lost his faith, though not a respect for faith.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Sept 22, 2017 15:38:50 GMT
Are there any contemporary Irish novelists who AREN'T post-nationalist, pluralist, cosmopolitan, etc?
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Post by MourningIreland on Sept 22, 2017 16:14:11 GMT
Are there any contemporary Irish novelists who AREN'T post-nationalist, pluralist, cosmopolitan, etc? I'm not aware of any pro-Trump writers, Irish or otherwise. The only pro-Trump artists I can think of offhand are Kaya Jones (music), Sabo (street artist), Kenny Rogers (music), Lee Greenwood (music), and James Woods (actor). I'm sure there are more but I cannot think of any. The bright side of that for me is, why would I bother reading books written by stupid intellectuals when I can use that time to read Dante or Joyce? Joyce would have loved President Trump. |
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Post by kj on Sept 22, 2017 18:21:50 GMT
Maolshechlann, Black List Section H is an essential read for any student of Irish literature if you haven't tried it.
The autobiography was bombastic, but he was young and full of it.
I really recommend 'The Pillar of Cloud' an autobiographical novel about the aftermath of the war in Germany. Very moving, real and full of Christianity.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Sept 22, 2017 18:36:04 GMT
They are big books. Reluctant to tackle big books right now. I've been reading the Summa Theologiae and I'm also trying to keep up my Irish language reading. I may get to them eventually.
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Post by kj on Sept 22, 2017 18:56:55 GMT
Pillar of Cloud is average length.
If you're looking for short and punchy, and still in a gloom phase, I re-iterate my recommendation of Osamu Dazai's 'No Longer Human'.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Sept 22, 2017 19:08:24 GMT
I did actually look for it, but it's not in my library. It sounds angst-tastic though!
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Post by MourningIreland on Sept 22, 2017 21:19:34 GMT
Are there any contemporary Irish novelists who AREN'T post-nationalist, pluralist, cosmopolitan, etc? I'm not aware of any pro-Trump writers, Irish or otherwise. The only pro-Trump artists I can think of offhand are Kaya Jones (music), Sabo (street artist), Kenny Rogers (music), Lee Greenwood (music), and James Woods (actor). I'm sure there are more but I cannot think of any. The bright side of that for me is, why would I bother reading books written by stupid intellectuals when I can use that time to read Dante or Joyce? Joyce would have loved President Trump. Well, what do you know? It looks like Ireland has its very own Sabo - Eamon Reilly: www.eamonreilly.com/products/a-sick-baby-is-still-a-baby/ He and I are thinking similar thoughts about stupid intellectuals, even though we have never spoken: www.eamonreilly.com/products/great-expectations-dashed/I will update this thread if I can find a conservative Irish writer. |
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Sept 22, 2017 21:42:08 GMT
I never use the damned things.
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Post by cato on Sept 23, 2017 9:36:26 GMT
They are big books. Reluctant to tackle big books right now. I've been reading the Summa Theologiae and I'm also trying to keep up my Irish language reading. I may get to them eventually. Congratulations on reading the Summa. It is a hard book to read on your own. The dominicans in Tallaght have been doing a guided reading on it over the years. Are you part of it? I am planning to tackle Augustine's City of God again . I am getting more and more sympathetic to Augustine in my dotage. |
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Sept 23, 2017 13:17:07 GMT
I'm not entirely unacquainted with Thomism, since one of the books that convinced me theism was true is The Last Superstition by the American Thomist Edward Feser. I've followed his blog for years and I've read a few books about Aquinas, including Feser's own. Actually so far I've found that the primary text is not necessarily harder to follow than commentaries.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Sept 23, 2017 13:21:09 GMT
This by the way is a problem I face myself, I have been writing a weekly column on GK Chesterton for a local religious magazine called The Open Door for three years now. Often it feels presumptious because Chesterton put everything so well, commentary seems superfluous!
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Post by cato on Sept 30, 2017 10:04:10 GMT
I don't normally read church documents for pleasure but recent discussions on scripture and historical truth on the threads dealing with Orthodoxy and Evolution prompted me to read Verbum Domini by Pope Benedict.
It is an excellent summary of current catholic teaching on the bible and its' place in the life of the church. Pope Benedict has the clearest style of recent popes and adheres to concepts like tradition, scholarship and the principle of non-contradiction.
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