Two books by Robert Harris
Robert Harris is an English gentleman, which, of course means that he is fascinated with ancient Rome. In preparation for reading his newest book Conspirata I checked out his first two Roman novels, Pompeii and Imperium. Harris has also written an alternate history novel, Fatherland, some thrillers and some books of real, non fiction, history.
Pompeii, not surprisingly, has to do with the eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of the city of Pompeii. Harris peoples his book with both fictional and historical characters. His protagonist, Marcus Attilius Primus is a hydraulic engineer, or an "Aquarius" as he is titled. He has an adventure suitable for Indiana Jones in the process of repairing the Aqua Augusta, the aqueduct which waters Pompeii, Neapolis and other towns in the area. In the process he uncovers corruption in the local government, not to mention a murder, learns that Vesuvius is about to erupt,and finds a love interest in the daughter of the ex-slave who serves as the villain. Pliny the Elder who was Naval commander in the area at the time figures prominently in the book. His nephew, Pliny the Younger makes a cameo appearance, as a callow youth and the Emperor Vespasian plays a part off stage.
Imperium is the first volume in a proposed trilogy on the life of Cicero. (The new book Conspirata is the second) Imperium is a John Grisham like courtroom drama, featuring Cicero as the up and coming young lawyer who beats the more experienced and wily older man in an important case. It is also a historical novel that attempts to document the early career of this important Roman statesman. The story is narrated by Cicero's slave and secretary, Tiro, a real person, who is believed to have actually written a biography of the great man, which has been lost. Other real people, including Julius Caesar, and the famous generals Pompey and Crassus play roles in this novel.
I found subtle references to the controversy over climate change in Pompeii and even more subtle comments of the invasion of Iraq in Imperium. Harris uses the Roman Empire as a mirror to hold up against contemporary society. He does it in a way that the reader doesn't have to notice if one does not want to. For the record, Pliny the Elder is a climate change skeptic.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Pompeii and Imperium
Monday, March 1, 2010
God's Secretaries
The Making of the King James Bible
Adam Nicholson
Adam Nicholson is the fifth Baron Carnoc, which might give him some cred in explaining the inner machinations of Jacobean politics into which he delves in this book, which is about much more than just biblical scholarship in the early seventeenth century. God's Secretaries ranges far in it's opening chapter, to the death of Elizabeth, who Nicholson says was an unpopular, and almost broke, queen at the end of her reign, to the rise of the "puritan" strain of English religion and to the clever way that James I played he various parties against one another to create and preserve the United Kingdom. Incidentally, the original title was Baronet Carnoc, Carnoc being some godforsaken place, possible near J.K. Rowling's castle, in Scotland. This title was sold to on of Nicholson's ancestors by James I in a clever money raising scheme. The Nicholsons became full fledged barons in 1916, courtesy of the first world war and Sir Arthur Nicholson, 11th Baronet and Permanent Undersecretary in the Foreign Office. I'm not sure what a Baronet is, a Baron in toe shoes, maybe?
According to God's Secretaries, James was in a bit of a pickle when he ascended to the English throne on the death of Elizabeth. He had this wonderful invention, the Church of England, created by Henry VIII, which made him the head of the church as well as the state. Other European monarchs were subject to interference in their affairs by the Pope and/or the bishops of the churches in their countries. God trumps the King every time.
Henry had created this marvelous church where he was both king and pope. But, if it was possible to create a new church other people could do the same, and in England, "Puritan" churches had sprung up, churches which taught that every person could read the Bible for themselves and needed no religious authority higher than the elders of their own congregation. Worse, some members and clergy in the Church of England leaned toward their revolutionary notions. James was used to these people because he had been born and raised as the king of Scotland, where the Presbyterian faith made him, as king, just another member of the church, no better than anyone else. James really preferred being the top dog.
In God's Secretaries Nicholson explores how James used the writing of a new standard English translation of the Bible to reinforce his authority over both church and state and, at the same time, temporarily quieted the political strife caused by the religious split between the Church of England and the "Puritans." It didn't last long, of course.
Amazingly, the King James Bible was written by a committee, a big committee with lots of subcommittees. There were both Bishops and Puritans on those subcommittees. Somehow, they found a way to work together and create what has been called the greatest work of prose in the English Language.
Maybe Congress should read this book.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Another Carnival Already!
Read Book Review Blog Carnival #38 at Best Book's Review and find yet more books to add to your to be read pile.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Book Review Blog Carnival
If you review books you can participate in the Book Review Blog Carnival by submitting your blog posts here.
Happy Valentines Day
Sunday, February 7, 2010
The Mayor of McDougal Street
a Memoir
Dave Van Ronk
with Elijah Wald
This book was originally envisioned as a history of the Greenwich Village folk music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Dave and Elijah were planning to collaborate on it, using Elijah's research skills, and Dave's memory and rye sense of humor. Soon after work began, with only a few scribbled notes on Dave's part and a couple of hours of interviews under Elijah's belt, Dave was diagnosed with cancer and went into a rapid decline. Rather than abandon the project Elijah used all of the written and filmed interviews and recorded stage patter he could find from Dave's career to put together the book in Dave's own words.
Since I have them, let me tell my own two Dave Van Ronk stories. In 1970, I think it was, I saw Dave perform at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. He sang Cocaine Blues among other songs and with his gravely Brookynese voice his slouching posture and his scruffy appearance he was so effective that I wondered how he had managed to survive so long. Dave would have been 34 years old at the time.
Back in the late '90s I had the privilege of doing sound for Dave at a concert. I was used to spending an hour or more tweaking the EQ for people like Tom Rush and Livingston Taylor, eventually getting everything back to just about the way I started, to satisfy them with their sound. Dave sat down on his stool, strummed a few chords, sang about half a chorus of a song and mumbled, "That sound pretty good to me," got up and went to the green room. I don't envy Elijah's listening to hours of concert recordings for the stage patter. Dave loved to talk and told great stories about where he learned songs, but he mumbled softly, paying no attention to mic placement. His singing was loud and on mic so it was hard to hear him while he rambled on.
Elijah Wald soldiered on, though, an put together an interesting and coherent story of Dave's experience, of becoming a folksinger despite himself, living in his native New York but miles away from his mother's home across the east river. Dave dropped out of high school and gradually moved in to the Village, sleeping on floors and couches in other people's apartments. He wanted to play jazz in the worst way and put together a band which did. He played banjo because guitar was not considered authentic enough for a trad jazz band. Dave calls himself a "moldy fig" in jazz parlance of the time, as opposed to those awful beboppers playing their incomprehensible stuff. Incidentally Dave says in the book that he was insufferable about it.
As time went by, Dave realized that he was not going to be able to make a living playing Dixieland banjo and he went back to the guitar to become a solo act. He played his traditional jazz songs, plus others that he learned from other guitarists in Washington Square on Sunday afternoons. By default Dave became a folksinger. He hated that title.
There are many stories in the book about Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Rev. Gary Davis, Peter Paul and Mary - just about everybody that was part of that scene, all told by Dave in his own words, not to mention old time jazz musicians like Clarence Williams, who had recorded Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong back in the 1920's doing songs that Clarence wrote. It must have been a nightmare, or a labor of love for Elijah Wald, a former guitar student of Dave's and a long time friend, to find and write down all of Dave's stories of the time. It makes fascinating reading. For a video of Dave singing a Bessie Smith song and a snippet of his reminiscences, go to my music blog here.
