Dadelus U is an education channel full of videos on writing, literature, mathematics, poetry, meditation and music. Paul Griffin has worked as a tutor in New York City for over a decade. He lives with his wife and daughter in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Could Achebe come to the USA and write a story from the perspective of someone who understands the USA like someone born here? I don't think so, but he could still write a great story from the perspective of an outsider. That's why Conrad could not have treated Africa as anything besides a "backdrop". Who was Conrad to write about Africa as if he understood it as anything else?
I completely agree with you on your portrayal of Tolstoy. He's a source of inspiration for me as well in living the simple life of compassion and kindness towards our fellow humans and all life.
The conclusion that Conrad was a racist because he created a complex character in Marlowe is absurd. Do we likewise conclude that Achebe was a murderer for creating Okonkwo? Authors are not their characters. Do intelligent people really need to be reminded of this? To judge based on such spurious evidence embarrassingly reveals one's own bias.
Hmmm. Never thought about it from this analytical point of view. It has always been something I just “do” by way of the suttas. Very interesting. Thank you. Namo Buddhaya. PS Have you read Bikkhu Bodhi’s wonderful translations of the Pali Canon?
What is the source of that photo you show of Thoreau Unkempt? Best I can tell there are only two photos of Thoreau, one with full beard, one with neck beard.
We: the church, cannot say who is heaven bound or ‘otherwise’ Hell. The Protestant position, it seems to me is that Tolstoy was a seeker of God, and of meaning & purpose but that does not ‘make’ you a Christian for that to happen is all of God. The theology of the Hymn “Just as I am” is a biblical one and does not rely on us, other than our ascent to the voice of God, either in person but, and always, in His word. This is a most enjoyable summary of a complex man, of which most of us are. The descriptions here mentioned many ordinary, young & old, especially it seems to me, males encounter. Often such human complexities stem from ‘early’ suffering. Or in Tolstoy’s case dissatisfaction within the world of ‘meaningless abundance’, as is evidenced in King Solomon. Will Tolstoy be among the elect? On the one hand, should not matter, other than among those who strive for faith as Tolstoy examples. What I mean is that there are human attempts to find a ‘God’ yet unknown but is hoped exist: Humanism being but one but through which will not find God, for that is equally disqualifying in the attitude Jesus rebuked the Pharisees! For such an approach is based on Human Law & reason, human ideology, making a god in our own image and is based in idolatry. Not that its never existed before but today, with the ease with which information is disseminated cements like minds with the possibility to create our own god, make our own god ‘this way’ and a great many do, even, & perhaps especially within the walls of theology itself with the mega churches promise to physical prosperity & well-being & is the antithesis of what Jesus promised: suffering for testifying to His death and subsequent resurrection for example. Identifying with the ‘poor’. Tolstoy seems to fall between these two somewhat. A complex approach to God is only as complex a life we often make it to be. But, as Tolstoy eventually recognised, a simple minded youngster or adult can truly find God- and necessarily so because God would have all come to Him, meaning it must therefore necessarily be available to all. Complex lives often result from internal conflict that seem to me to cloud and stumble with what the simple employ of the basics God gives to achieve the end Tolstoy may have found, did he not default to the life of the peasant with that purpose at least?
Kurtz sounds like a Donald Trump kind of character. Conrad’s description of darkest Africa is the destiny of America if we follow our own Kurtz down the river of darkness…. Hark! We’ve been warned.
Interesting at 9:25 you draw attention to ‘one of the great lines in English poetry : And no more turn aside and brood’, which you highlight is about being present. Joyce in Dubliners also has a great line about ‘Mr Duffy living a short distance from his body’ which is also about in this case not being present and it also ties in with the comment from Dan about this poem coming from Joyce’s Ulysses. As they say in rock climbing ‘stay over your feet 👣’
I wish I had come to your masterpiece a little bit earlier when I took my dreams to the university. However, better late than never. I am blissful that I am now here and will try to make good use of your materials to the best of my ability...
It is a very boring novel where you can't share the joys and sorrows with the main character, A novel in which I can not be the main character as I read it. This novel provides the tip of the iceberg of the atrocities committed by cowardly white scumbags in the Congo. It is ironic that Kurtz, who secured the status of a god by using the horror as a weapon over other humans, dying and said, "The horror! The horror!" He's a coward. I also studied in Belgium for two years from January 1982 for 2 years, so I understood their way of thinking.
주인공과 동고동락 할 수 없는 엄청 재미없는 소설, 내가 읽으면서 주인공이 될 수 없는 소설. 이 소설은 비겁한 백인 쓰레기들이 콩고에서 저지른 만행중에서 빙산의 일각을 보여주네요. 다른 인간위에 the horror를 무기로 신적인 지위를 확보한 Kurtz가 죽으며 남긴 마지막 말이 "The horror! The horror!"라니 아이러니합니다. 비겁한 놈이죠. 저도 1982년 1월 부터 벨기에에서 2년 공부를 했는데, 이들의 사고방식을 알 수 있는 기회였습니다.
The skandhas are the anatomy of awareness. In the same way that the body is described as having muscle, skeletal, nervous, circulatory, etc. systems, the mind has 5 systems, called the 5 skandhas. FYI, the translation as "heap" or "aggregate" is a misnomer. That is an implied connotation not a translation. The word "skandha" refers the shoulder where the arm branches from the torso or to the joint where the crotch of the branch stems forth from the tree. The 5 skandhas are the 5 shoulders where the five arms of awareness extend from the torso of the One Mind of True Suchness. Using the common denominator of "ception" (from Latin capere, to take;) as the root, I like to say that the 5 skandhas are inception, reception, perception, conception, and deception. (I disagree with calling the 3rd skandha "conception" because concept is too complex for the 3rd skandha and the coplexity of conception, i.e., mental formation, develops at the 4th skandha.) The inherently deceptive function and structure of consciousness is the duality of the polarized bifurcation of self-consciousness. The practice of Buddha Dharma is to transform the deception of consciousness into the prajna/wisdom of awareness. The 8 consciousnesses are transformed into the 4 wisdom knowledges or Buddha-jnanas.
Had he lived long enough, perhaps Tolstoy would have come to the realization that if one purges religion of mysticism and dogma, religion would thereby be purged of gods.
Thank you! Excellent lesson, splendidly conceived, structured, and presented. How I wish I had been privy to lectures like that 50 years ago. I will look for more videos from you. I also hope you are the narrator on some books to which I will be listening.
Sartre was a petit bourgeois intellectual who had nothing of value to impart to working class people. Same for Beauvoir. The Marxist’s were right about them, they’re cafe intellectuals.
I’m so thankful for the in depth analysis of the poem. I’m just starting college again in my 40’s and have some trouble understanding the full reading of some stories.
Nice job explaining what has always been a challenging topic. The reality of no solid self is easier to understand than the stages of the 5 skandas. So thanks for this
The "more to it" is that the guy is probably going to suicide. The furniture in the yard was the prelude. The Hemingway story is about the 2 guys getting together. Very different stories.
