Quarterly Book Reviews #4

LITERATURE
Strange Things: The Malevolent North in Canadian Literature by Margaret Atwood
Originally presented at Clarendon Lectures in English Literature, in this book Atwood analyzes a number of novels, poems and folk stories that might be cconsidered distinctly Canadian. She eloquently uses Franklin's expedition, Grey Owl and Wendigo as examples of historical, psychological and mythical undercurrents that give Canadian Lit a unique flavour.

Also noteworthy, the book contains excellent bibliography for anyone courageous enough to step into the fascinating world of the malevolent North on one's own. Through fiction, at least.

RELIGION
Son of Man: The Mystical Path to Christ by Andrew Harvey

More like four books in one. Part One (The Historical Jesus) is a lucid and progressive approach to Jesus as a man, teacher and revolutionary, not unlike Jesus as interpreted by other liberal Christian thinkers and theologians. Part Two (The Mystical Christ) relies a bit too heavily on the Gnostic gospels, which the author tends to treat as more authoritative than the canonical ones. In Part Three (Christ and the Sacred Feminine) the focus is shifted almost entirely on Mary, her mystic motherhood and divine femininity. Part Four is a collection of practices and meditations on the mystical Christ.

What the book lacks is a sort of bridge between the historical Jesus and the mystical Christ. Those who are prone to think of Jesus in more rational terms (as Harvey portrays him in Part One) are not very likely to endorse the rather advanced neognostic hyper-mysticism espoused by the author in other parts of the book.

RELIGION
Which Witch Is Which? compiled & edited by Patricia Telesco

A collection of articles about various neo-pagan traditions, written by the practitioners themselves. Each article contains contact adress(es) and suggestions for further reading about a particular group, coven or tradition. It's a Who's Who of neo-paganism; very easy to use, highly practical, especially for those who have just begun exploring this rather heterogeneous cluster of different spiritual traditions and practices.

FICTION
Augustus by Allan Massie
A historical novel in the form of reconstructed memoirs of Augustus, the first in the long line of Roman emperors. The good thing about it is that Massie clearly knows historical facts and also knows how to use them for the purpose of fine and exciting story-telling. The bad thing about it is that in the attempt to make history alive he goes a bit too far. For instance, you will find Maecenas calling Augustus "Duckie" and similar horrors which often result when authors insist on using modern language or jargon in historical novels. (Sorry, I'm just not a big fan of that.)

In short, the novel is good enough to make other Massie's books in the series (Tiberius, Calligula) worth checking out, but it is not quite in the same league with, say, Graves' famous I, Claudius.

In the absence of more intelligent things to write about

I had a haircut this morning. It never fails to brighten me up. And it seems to be linked, in some esoteric way, with an instant urge to workout and flex some muscles. Which is exactly what I did as soon as I got home, but that's beside the point (the whole fitness "routine" will only last a week or so, anyway).

What I did mean to write about is the sheer horror of realizing that my hair looked like a grey cat's fur. At least that's exactly what it looked like lying there on the floor, before they brushed it away. I just stared at it for a few moments, wondering whether that really was my hair, growing out of my head. And how could I have walked around all these weeks with that wretched thing on my head?

I'm so glad I'm back to my more presentable self now (or as my mother would delightfully put it, like-you-just-got-out-of-prison look).