forgotten insights

Earlier eras of Western society had some great minds, with much of their wisdom regarding human nature now dismissed as quaint or worse, faded away and all but lost-- a casualty of our modern ways of thinking.

My example of this follows below, a quote about literature with an inherent perspective on differences between the sexes.

In many situations today, social hypersensitivity frightens away the voicing of similarly candid, unabridged observations. Or am I overstating this reluctance?

With special thanks to my brilliant Facebook friend James Gorski, here is a quote from post-Victorian author and philosopher G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) that put me onto this line of thinking.

I first noticed James' news stream post with the GKC quote because it comments on novel writing, of obvious interest to me. But beyond the topic of novel writing, the quote ended up being an intriguing catalyst for me for thoughts on that kind of human observation in general.

The quote in question:

“PEOPLE put the matter wrong when they say that the novel is a study of human nature. Human nature is a thing that even men can understand. Human nature is born of the pain of a woman; human nature plays at peep-bo when it is two and at cricket when it is twelve; human nature earns its living and desires the other sex and dies. What the novel deals with is what women have to deal with; the differentiations, the twists and turns of this eternal river.”

~GKC: The Victorian Age in Literature.’

So, were such differences between men and women, as observed by some of our great Grandparents' leading thinkers, just artifacts of their society? Do such observations have any actual validity today beyond their historical value?

More and more, I'm finding Chesterton a fascinating and worthwhile English author.

tech issues - please stand by

mothers' day

two black cranes: a strange dream in the afternoon

dream account
thursday, 5 may, 2011
afternoon nap
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Dream account to follow.
b

cinco de mayo

People such as myself who are not big drinkers usually glide right past de facto party days like St. Patrick's Day and Cinco de Mayo. But when one of those semi-holidays rolls around it wouldn't hurt me to at least mention it. Maybe I can seize the day and use its theme as a springboard for a special meal, or some kind of themed art project. Of course, lately it's been all about the novel writing, and I don't want to stray too far off that path, especially now that I'm finally getting so much done. So maybe I'll just mention the Fifth of May, and leave it at that. Happy Cinco de Mayo, and I'll write more soon. Cheers! /

PS Before anyone misunderstands me and thinks I don't know there are real meanings behind these celebrations, my glib comments don't refer to their serious roots-- only their casual modern identities.

for the studio

New dress form today, plus a half-size form and draping tape. Details sometime soon.

writing the rails: using trains in a story

Over at the Amtrak Facebook news feed this morning, the Amtrak p.r. person who posts on their behalf was asking for ideas to help celebrate 40 years of Amtrak service. This was my suggestion:

Brenda Cox Giguere / Have a writing contest. Invite writers to create works of original fiction that make positive use of an Amtrak journey in the storyline. I'm going to detail this idea on my blog today.